Rule One declares “All guns are always loaded”. Are they?
Date: Jun 21, 2006 7:18 PM
FYI (copy below):
http://xavierthoughts.blogspot.com/2006/06/rule-one.html
************************************************************
Monday, June 19, 2006
Rule One
Rule One declares “All guns are always loaded”.
Are they?

For some, the thought that they may not be is heresy. For
others, the thought that all guns are always loaded is
ludicrous.

Is a pistol loaded with the magazine out and the slide
locked back? Most ranges stipulate a pistol laying on a
table in such a fashion, where the Range Officer can see an
empty chamber, is the only one safe enough to venture down
range from. Likewise, a revolver with the cylinder swung
out is considered to be a safe weapon. When the Range
Officer is able to see daylight through all six chambers of
a revolver, is it loaded? Is a pistol that is field
stripped with the slide sent off to Novaks for new sights
loaded? These are extremes, but Rule One does state that
All guns are always loaded.

Jeff CooperHere is what Jeff Cooper had to say about Rule
One.

“There are no exceptions. Do not pretend that this
is true. Some people and organizations take this
rule and weaken it; e.g. “Treat all guns as if
they were loaded.” Unfortunately, the “as if”
compromises the directness of the statement by
implying that they are unloaded, but we will treat
them as though they are loaded. No good! Safety
rules must be worded forcefully so that they are
never treated lightly or reduced to partial
compliance.

All guns are always loaded. Period!

This must be your mindset. If someone hands you a
firearm and says, “Don’t worry, it’s not loaded,”
you do not dare believe him. You need not be
impolite, but check it yourself. Remember, there
are no accidents, only negligent acts. Check it.
Do not let yourself fall prey to a situation where
you might feel compelled to squeal, “I didn’t know
it was loaded!”

Yet even Colonel Cooper, the founder of Gunsite and the
modern technique of combat handgunnery allowed himself to be
photographed violating multiple rules, of which he is the
author! He later expressed regret for allowing a reporter
to take that photo, and said it gave him a queasy feeling
each time he saw it.

So at what point do you agree that a gun is unloaded? Do
you constantly check your guns again and again like an
obsessive compulsive checking his zipper? Do you get upset
if the mailman leaves a package containing a new Kart 1911
barrel with the muzzle pointing in the wrong direction?
Everyone who is going to be around guns has to reach a point
where they can agree that a gun is safe.

I recall a time when I was newly married. Several friends
and I were sitting around a table discussing a friend’s new
pistol. Each time one of us picked up the pistol, we press
checked it, talked a bit while maintaining muzzle
discipline, and put it back down. The conversation remained
cheerful until my wife decided to clear the table to prepare
for dinner. She had recently been taught by me to always
check that chamber. She picked up that pistol, pulled back
the slide, and was horrified to see a live round pop out.
“It’s loaded!” she shrieked. “Yeah honey, it’s been loaded
all day.” I replied. Everyone at the table knew the pistol
was loaded. Everyone had checked it for themselves as soon
as they laid a hand on it. Nobody was surprised because we
all expected it to be loaded. Only my wife was surprised,
because she assumed it must not have been loaded after so
many people had checked it. Thankfully, she checked it
herself.

So, here is my way. I consider all guns to be loaded until
I, myself, have personally checked them. If that gun leaves
my hand, I check it again when I pick it up. If I have been
holding the gun and became distracted, I check it again. If
that gun has been sitting locked in my safe, I check it
again when I pick it up. If that gun has been in my holster
all day, I check it again when I put it away.

The proper way to check a pistol is to drop the magazine,
lock back the slide, and look into the chamber. Some
people, including myself, will even place a finger into that
empty chamber, as the tactile sense helps cement the memory
of an empty chamber in the mind. For a hand ejector type
revolver, the cylinder must be swung out and each chamber
inspected. On a single action revolver, the gate must be
opened and the cylinder spun around. A break top revolver
must have the top opened. A shotgun requires that the
chamber be opened and the chamber and the magazine checked.
A bolt action rifle requires the bolt to be open. An
automatic rifle requires the magazine removed and the bolt
to be locked back. If I am handed a weapon that I do not
know how to make safe, I do not accept it, unless the person
handing it to me knows nothing about the safe handling of
firearms. In those circumstances, and they do occur, I
figure the gun is safer in my hands than theirs.

If I have just checked a gun’s chamber, verified it to be
empty, and it has not left my hands, I consider it safe.
Notice…..Not unloaded, but safe. Not safe to point at
anything and everything, but safe enough to dry fire. Safe
enough to check the bore. Safe enough to carry out the many
tasks a gun owner must sometimes perform that violate the
four rules.

In the end, like Colonel Cooper says, what the gun handler
wants is to never have to say “I didn’t know it was loaded.”
To prevent that from occuring, you must know what you are
holding. To know what you are holding, you must check the
chamber yourself. Failure to do so could alter your life
forever.