Almost nobody in this forum is concerned with reviewing the "4 Rules of gun safety". They are fine as they are. Jeff Cooper wrote them right? Then, they are perfect as they are now.
I've been on this board since its inception, made over 1300 posts - plus thousands more on its precursor (TFL). You've done 13. Having been an active participant for years, let me assure you (the earnest newcomer) that we have reviewed The Four Rules far beyond what you can imagine. We could publish a book with the vast piles of postings on the subject. Just because the review is new to you does not mean the review has not been done to death already.
Yes, Jeff Cooper wrote them - can you seriously and viably recommend ANYONE more suited for writing such rules? He wrote them based on vast experience, with loads of review from other tremendously experienced shooters, and they have held up through friendly & hostile scrutiny by thousands. As such, the rules may not be perfect (as no man is perfect) but you'll be hard-pressed to improve them (how much shooting experience do you have?).
As shown time and again: the problem isn't the rules, the problem is people won't follow them.
Almost nobody in this forum is concerned with reducing AD/ND (guns are dangerous anyway, so AD/ND will happen, period.)
You haven't seen us handling guns then. We can quote The Four Rules verbatum at any moment. We teach them to others. We obey the rules OBSESSIVELY. Considering the
billions of rounds fired by this group each year, the miniscule number of AD/NDs is testimony to how hard we try to reduce them. We know, from extensive personal experience, that changing & complicating gun handling rules is one of the fastest ways to end up with AD/NDs.
Gun accidents happen at a much lower rate than comparably serious accidents involving bathrooms, highschool football, cars, and other common activities. Are you equally concerned about rules & safety for those issues?
Accidents DO happen. Everything is dangerous if you do something stupid enough with it. Part of being an adult is mitigating those risks - but not trying to actually lower those risks to zero (because the only zero-risk situation is total elimination of the object or activity).
How many of you have heard of a AD /ND of an atomic weapon?
Worth pointing out XavierBreath's comment:
Nuclear incidents do occur. Do not fool yourself. While not as widely devastating as an explosion, radiation does escape, and can be considered the same as a negligent discharge.
Elsewhere I have addressed the issue of nuke safety (per "does RKBA apply to nukes?"). The rules are essentially the same. They are followed obsessively, and anyone acting - or even hinting - at a violation is immediately removed from the area.
I can't believe that so many of gun owners are not a little bit concerned on how to reduce AD/ND
To use the same tone:
I can't believe that you're so presumptuous & condescending.
You've posted 13 times so far. Care to fill us in on your background? Remember: you're surrounded by dozens of people who have already discussed this subject on hundreds of threads, follow The Four Rules as a way of life (and do so very safely as a result), have tought thousands of people about gun safety, and are taking the time to discuss the subject - again - with you.
I systematically analyzed the nearly 100 AD/NDs you listed. One quarter of cases were mechanical failures - unexpected, and being reduced by an industry obsessed with making things safer. Most of the rest were variations of "I didn't know it was loaded" - a flat-out violation of RULE 1; if someone won't recognize IT'S A GUN - IT'S DANGEROUS and treat at as such per RULE 1, more rules won't help.
A lot of experienced intelligent people disagree with you - yet, here we are, discussing it with you. Perhaps you should consider being more open-minded and try to understand what we're telling you ... just as we're analyzing your statements and trying to understand you.