The basic four safety rules

1. Treat every firearm as if it’s loaded. This means anything you would do with the gun while unloaded, is the same thing you would do with it ready to fire. I can personally tell you of two negligent discharges I witnessed with people when people who knew better pulled the trigger on a gun they just ‘knew’ were unloaded.

2. Never point a firearm at anything that you do not intend to destroy. This includes any and all horseplay with firearms– especially if you forget rule number one above. This translates into the concept of proper muzzle-control. Remember, the only things that are cleared to point a firearm at are a target, berm, or threat. Moreover, even with that, keep in mind all of the other rules.

3. Always be sure of your target and what is beyond it or behind it. Bullets are funny things. Even low-powered rimfire ammo can travel significant distances and penetrate walls, doors, etc. Keep this in mind even in self-defense instances.

4. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are on target. Ah trigger discipline, or commonly just called TD. It’s pretty hard for a firearm to just suddenly go off unless the trigger is pulled back successfully. If your trigger finger is aligned down the side of the trigger well, or better, down the side of the slide, until you are ready to fire, the less likely you are to shoot yourself in the leg or accidentally wing an innocent bystander. “Booger hook off the bang switch!”