Searched and came up empty "4 rules"

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

jbauch357

Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2007
Messages
437
Location
7th layer of hell (Seattle), Washington
So I searched and searched, but couldn't find an actual description of the sacred "4 rules" that I keep hearing of.

I know this has probably been beaten to death, but I'm sure that there are other noobs here wondering the same thing...
 
RULE I: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED

RULE II: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY

RULE III: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET

RULE IV: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET

Visit this link
 
Here's another:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Cooper_(colonel)

Besides the 4 rules, there's a lot of other stuff here that every shooter ought to be familiar with: the "color code" of threat awareness, the 4 conditions of firearm readiness (Condition One: full magazine, hammer cocked, safety applied--and so on), and more.

Every shooter, whether of handgun or long gun, owes the late Colonel Cooper a debt of gratitude. He did more to codify and simplify the principles of gun handling and personal combat than anyone else I can think of. He was also a damned good writer, and a wise man.

I had the privilege of corresponding with him from time to time, and he was unfailingly patient and courteous, even with questions that I realized later were rather stupid. I miss him.
 
Generally the four rule (sometimes the 3 rules) have been espoused by NRA, Military trianers, civilian marksmanship schools, etc, in various forms. As stated above in the previous posts, they are the product of one Jeff Cooper, recently deceased Pistolero par excelan.
Failures of any of the 4 rules are what lies at the root of any so-called unintended shooting.

1. The gun is ALWAYS loaded.
2. Never let the gun point at anything you don't want to destroy.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to squeeze.
4. Be sure of your target and backstop.

Following these rules strictly will prevent ALL unintended injury, always.
 
Library

Well, y'know, there IS this pair of links that appears AT THE TOP OF EVERY PAGE, one of them being the Forum Rules and the other being THR Library.

On the THR Library page, on the left side, there is a link, in bold, to The Four Rules of Gun Safety.

The THR Library links to a wealth of information on a broad range of topics. You could spend an afternoon or three just cruising that stuff.

Anyway.

The THR Library is your friend.
 
I learned #3&4 a bit more specifically...

3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
Definition of ready to shoot: the sights are lined up on the target, and you have made the decision to shoot.

4. Be sure of your target, and what's around it (there may be more bad guys) and behind it (there may be something you don't want to shoot).
 
Besides the 4 rules, there's a lot of other stuff here that every shooter ought to be familiar with: the "color code" of threat awareness, the 4 conditions of firearm readiness (Condition One: full magazine, hammer cocked, safety applied--and so on), and more.
Click to expand...

Why?

It appears to me that the 4 safety rules (which I learned as a kid from the NRA) are about behavior. They can save my life, or the lives of those around me.

The colors and conditions jargon has nothing to do with behavior - they are just description. Usually, I only run across them when people are having come "tacticool" debate about 1911's.

"Do you carry your 1911 in Condition One?"
"No, I prefer Condition 3."
"But what if you need to do a Mozambique drill and a you don't have time for a tactical reload?"...

When I come across posts like that, I think of us being kids and playing "Man from Uncle" with our walkie-talkies. We would do our darnedest to sound like Napolean Solo and Illya Kuryakan - whispering "Code Red!" when mom approached the hall closet we were hiding in.

Is the any point to the condition and color talk, other than impessinig upon people that you are a tactical kind of guy?

Mike
 
I have to admit I never "see" the THR Library link when looking at the webpage.

cavman
 
Jargon

Is the any point to the condition and color talk, other than impressing upon people that you are a tactical kind of guy?
Click to expand...
Yes.

Every field has its jargon. I have worked in several fields, each with its own jargon: electronics, communications, land surveying, computers, gaming, direct mail, telephone billing, education, and so on.

If you have to conduct much discourse in a specialized field, you get tired of saying "negative acknowledgement" real quick, and switch to "NAK" by day two.

In discussions about self defense, team tactics, strategic resource deployment, and stuff like that, it doesn't take long to get tired of saying "loaded, with a round in the chamber, hammer cocked, and the safety on," or perhaps, "blissfully unaware, completely ignorant of surroundings."

Pretty soon, you start looking for some shorthand. If there isn't any already in use, you start making some up.

Sometimes such terminology is derived as a product of deliberate effort to produce a frame of reference for educating people into a field of study.

And sometimes that happens at a cafe table at 2:00am with too much coffee and not enough sleep. "Okay, look, we need a token that can be stored on the client and requested by the server. Like this: pretend this cookie here is the data token . . ."

Don't worry too much about how corny it sounds. If the trainers are using it in classes, and if the practitioners are using it among themselves, it's probably a good idea to learn it.
 
Read my signature. There is a reason why I post this version of the four rules. My uncle and brother inlaw both did not have the proper respect for firearms and thought that the pistols that they were handling at the time were unloaded, they weren't. Both were killed. Both incidents were completely unrelated.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top