Layers of Safety
In all gun activities we preach the idea of having LAYERS OF SAFETY.
Cooper's Four Rules are really just a simple way of expressing the most universal of those layers:
1) Treat all guns as always loaded.
2) Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
3) Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target.
4) Identify your target, and what is behind it.
We know that when we are plinking at the range, or carrying our guns with us throughout our day, or hunting, etc., those four rules provide four layers of safety that overlap to protect us and others. Any one of them could keep us from a terrible accident but if we're trying to practice all four -- no matter how things go haywire -- there should be at least two or three layers in place keeping us from a dire WHOOPS.
There are times, however, when several of THOSE four rules get pretty badly bent. Like, for instance, when cleaning a gun, or when dryfiring, or when handling a gun at a safe area during a match, or ...
... Or when at a gun show (or shop).
During those times you're handling the guns, manipulating them to check or test the action, pointing them at things you are NOT willing to destroy (if only the clock on the wall, or
"CRAP, why'd that guy just walk in front of my muzzle? Didn't he see me shouldering this rifle over here?"), pulling the trigger to check the action job or in dryfire practice, pointing at things you really haven't checked as a target nor verified what might be behind it that you MUST not shoot, cleaning that Model 94 from the muzzle end or getting your hands in front of the muzzle of your 1911 when putting the bushing back in... And so forth.
Fortunately, Cooper's rules are not the ONLY rules that we can use to layer up the safety. We can also use special circumstance rules like NO AMMO/NO LOADED WEAPONS to create an alternate layer of safety to cover us when the original four are hard or impossible to perfectly maintain.
And if we could stop to recognize that, we wouldn't hear the inane calls of "hypocrisy" and nonsensical ramblings about "if they can't trust us in a gun show, why should they trust us walking down the street with a holstered gun?"
We sound a bit like someone who claims to always tell the truth. Without understanding nuance and practicing situational discretion, that well-intentioned fool is not likely to remain married -- OR employed! -- for very long.