The Cornered Cat
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Rude
February 11, 2013

…that it’s not polite to slam a door in someone’s face. He is inside. He slams the door shut himself and pushes me against the wall. My judgment: He is very rude. I make this conscious decision: Since he is being rude, it is okay for me to be rude back. I reach for the doorknob; I want to open the door and shove him outside and then slam the door in his face, rude or not, I don’t care now. But frankly, I don’t push him… Continue reading →

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The First Lesson
January 1, 2000

…ver ever point the gun anywhere except the safe direction — and that you checked three times to make sure it was unloaded — and that you had her check to see it was unloaded. Be a good example. Explain the ground rules to your child. The ground rules: the gun must stay pointed at the safe backstop at all times. Tell her that the gun has to stay pointed in that direction, and only that direction. Make sure she understands that she… Continue reading →

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Gun Cleaning and the Four Rules

…#8217;t the gun’s fault. In order for this tragedy to happen, the man in the news had to violate not just one, but all four of the safety rules. So let’s discuss: how do you clean a gun without violating the Four Rules? Rule One means that you never do anything with an allegedly unloaded gun that you would not do with it if you knew it was loaded. This is the cardinal rule, and all others follow naturally from it. So when you pick… Continue reading →

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Always
August 11, 2016

…rough the wall and shot the owner in the neck.” This week, the instructors in that class were indicted — one of them for Reckless Homicide, and the other for Negligent Homicide. So here we go again with a huge chorus of instructor voices online, yelling “NO AMMO IN THE CLASSROOM!” as though that would have prevented this tragedy. It would not. Relying on a single point of failure would not, did not, and could not stop… Continue reading →

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Old Story, New Shirt
November 19, 2013

…l of people where there was no solid backstop. Surely not…! Oh, but I hear some folks saying, not every franchise follows the Four Rules. Okay, for the sake of peace, I’ll concede this much: not everyone approves of the Four Rules, and not every instructor follows them. So maybe I’m being unfair to expect people who do not use that rule set to follow the ideas underneath that rule set. So let’s look at this incident within the context of the NRA… Continue reading →

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“No live ammo…”
January 27, 2021

…area offers a solid backstop and the lesson includes group dry fire, “no live ammo in the classroom” can be an excellent classroom-management tool. But that’s really all it is. It isn’t a core safety rule, it does not stand on its own without the core safety rules also being in effect, and it’s entirely possible to run a competent and safe lecture-only classroom without it. Safety rules and protocols are like… Continue reading →

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What is a “Safe Direction”?
November 4, 2017

…then forget about it. We can only call that wall a safe direction once we have done something to make sure that even the most unexpected bullet could not punch straight through that wall. This is especially and particularly true for classroom settings where an instructor can, should, and MUST set up the environment to reliably deal with any unexpected live rounds. 3 It is not enough to have the opinion that there’s (probably) no ammunition… Continue reading →

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Holster Safety & The Four Rules
January 1, 2000

…nd as inert as one which is lying on the table untouched. Important! Any time you absolutely must come close to violating one of the Four Rules, it should be a red flag to slow down and pay special attention to all the other rules. The safety rules should be so engrained in your habits and thoughts that it should take a really conscious act of the will to do anything near the line. But notice the italics in the paragraph above. The real danger… Continue reading →

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