Well, actually we do clear every gun. Or perform an equivalent check for CCW.
Explanations -
Believe it or not, every gun in the safe is in a storage case. The safe is temperature-controlled, and I've never had a problem with rust. Different cases are used for field transport, and they don't go in the safe (because they get wet...)
So, we can handle cased guns when "sorting" them for what we want to do, and we don't clear them because they never come out of the case.
We have a "rapid access" safe which has a couple of loaded guns in it, in holsters on the door. These obviously need to be cleared before inspections or cleaning, but otherwise they are just moved from one form of holster to another, following the Four Rules. Do these get cleared? Not really. They get a "press check" to make sure they
are loaded.
Putting pistols in a range bag or rifles in a field case? They get cleared first. Our range prohibits loaded guns in cases and violations can mean loss of membership. Range protocol is to uncase while the range is hot, set up shooting rests, etc. No reason to load because you're going to have to unload to service targets. Then, when range is cold, you leave guns on bench, actions open, and service targets. When range goes hot, you can load and then commence shooting. Guns have to be cleared before putting them back in case. Again, cased guns have to be unloaded.
At home, it's cleaning time. Guns are unloaded, right? Nope, they get cleared again before cleaning. After they are cleaned and oiled, they get put in their storage case. We check tags to make sure they don't get mixed up. (This isn't a safety thing, just a time-saver so we don't have to unzip 4 cases looking for the .243...
)
Does it sound like we spend a lot of time clearing guns? Yep.
Many years ago, I thought I was fairly safe with guns. It took some discussion with more experienced shooters to convince me that it just isn't that hard to check a gun every time you pick it up. Unless it's cased...