Jeff Cooper’s “4 Rules of Firearm Safety” are ubiquitous. Everyone who is remotely familiar with guns is familiar with those 4 rules. However, a lot of people do not understand how they work in the real world. For most people, these rules are only thought about while at the shooting range. In this article, I plan to elaborate on these 4 rules, and explain what they mean in the real world.
Jeff Cooper laid out a pretty simple set of rules.
Cooper’s rules are pretty self-explanatory. Guns are always loaded, don’t point it at anything you don’t wanna shoot, booger hook off the bang switch, and be aware of your target. The rules have been pretty constant, but they have been slightly iterated on over the years. Things like adding “treat all guns as they are always loaded” to Rule 1, and adding “be aware of the backstop behind the target” for Rule 4. These rules have served well over the last 5 decades, but I think there is room to make them better.
If we take the rules verbatim, we’d never be able to take our guns apart (they’re always loaded), and we wouldn’t be able to shoot from retention (sights aren’t being used to aim at the target). Heck, you might not even be able to carry the gun AIWB, as the gun would be pointed at you when you’re sitting. Over the years, I’ve heard some modifications to the rules, and wanted to list them, and explain how they improve on Cooper’s 4 rules.
Firearm safety, and safe gun handling are something that matter everywhere. While they are obvious to keep in mind when at the range, they apply to home, when out and about, and especially if you need to use a firearm to protect yourself. Each rule can be improved to be more widely applicable outside of the range, and I want to codify that here. I’ve picked up a lot of insight about these modified rules from instructors like John Johnston and Darryl Bolke, so I’m not trying to take credit for this “new” set of rules. I’m just here to write it down.
So what are the “new” rules?
Well, I can’t just posit new rules without elaborating on them. What do they mean?
“Handle firearms with the respect that deadly weapons deserve, and know their condition.”
Iterating off of the first rule, we need to understand that guns are weapons. Sure, some have entirely sporting purposes, but they can kill, and deserve the respect that lethal objects should be given. We should also be aware of their condition. Does the gun have a round in the chamber? How about the magazine or cylinder? Is the magazine empty, partially loaded, or fully loaded? Are external safeties activated?
By modifying Rule 1 to be more encompassing, we’re working on good firearm handling techniques. Handling guns is a thing that we do in the real world, and proper handling is a big way to being safe. With the expansion of the rule, we can also understand safe ways to work on guns. If we know that our gun is completely empty of ammunition, we can take it apart. We can clean, modify, or fix the gun in that condition, as we know that it is safe to handle in those ways. We can also perform dry fire practice, as we know the status of the gun.
Safe gun handling habits is a different topic for another time, but it is very important to practice them.
“Do not point the gun at things that you are unwilling to destroy, and understand where the safest direction is.”
This rule is largely kept the same as Cooper’s, but with the caveat about knowing safe directions. We want to avoid pointing our gun at things that we don’t want to shoot. This is pretty simple, but as with the other rules, we need to be cognizant of it. This part of the rule is always in play too. When drawing a handgun, to being at a ready position, to reholstering, when using a long gun, and even when the gun is carried or stowed away for home defense use.
I’ve seen plenty of people who have crossed their support arm when drawing, or point their pistol inboard towards their body when reholstering. We want to avoid that, and understand where it is safe to have our guns pointed. This is where the “safest direction” comes into play.
The safest direction is generally something that changes. When looking at a shooting range, the “downrange” part might be safe most of the time. Well, what is the case if people are down there putting up targets? Well, it’s not the safest direction anymore. In the real world, safe directions always change, and we want to be aware of when that happens. If you default to low ready for your ready position, does that position work if there are people below you? Does high ready work as a safe direction if there are people on the next floor above you?
Rule 2 is one that is very much situation dependent in the real world, but that’s what makes it so important.
“Keep your finger off of the trigger until the gun is indexed, and you are ready to fire.”
This one is pretty simple. Modifying the rule to include an index with the gun is a simple change. What does indexing the gun mean? Well, it’s simply that we are aiming the gun using some form of reference. This could be the sights or an optic, or it could be indexing off of your body for a retention shooting technique.
Now, I’m already hearing the competition shooters typing up a comment about trigger prep, and how my version of the rule prevents you from doing it. Well, this is partially the case. I’ve seen a lot of negligent discharges from people who are trying to prep the trigger during the drawstroke, and I generally think it’s not the best idea. That being said, if part of your presentation is prepping the trigger as you push out to extension for your drawstroke, I’d generally say that you have already indexed the gun by that point.
As with all gun-related things, there is plenty of nuance to be discussed. However, I think that trigger discipline is pretty simple to understand.
“Be aware of your target, what is beyond it, and what is between it and you.”
This rule is all about understanding the path of bullets. Many folks know to be aware of their target, and maybe even to know what lies past it. The most common version of this rule is to “Be aware of your target, and what is behind it”, but I think we should add a little more.
Most people should be worried about what is between them and their target. In the real world, it’s likely not going to be a wide, open shoot with nothing between you and the “bad guy”. In the real world, there are other people, objects, barriers, and other things that can complicated a shot. Understanding this is important, as again, we cannot point guns at people that do not need it.
A drill that I picked up from NPE Counter Robbery is the modified El Presidente. With this modified variant, we have six USPSA targets downrange. There are three rows, with a front, a middle, and a rear set of targets. The middle row are the “good shoots”, but the front and back are no-shoot, no-muzzle targets. While the El Pres is a drill that everyone knows, this variant makes the shooter think a lot more. You’ve got to be aware of what is between you and the shoots, and where the no-shoots behind them are.
This is a simple rule to ingrain, but is omnipresent in real shootings.
Rules only matter if you actually follow them. It’s obvious to say, but we all know of someone who became complacent with the rules of firearm safety, and had something tragic happen. It could have been an injury, or maybe a death. While horrible, firearm negligence is entirely preventable, which is why the rules need to be followed.
Simply put, you should be thinking about the rules of firearm safety whenever you are with guns. It could be handling them at home, at the range, at a match or class, and especially when you are carrying a gun.
Complacency breeds bad habits, and bad habits lead to tragedy.
Firearm safety is incredibly important. The rules for firearm safety have evolved, just as much as guns have over the last 50 years. While these new rules might seem pedantic, they’re more encompassing, and have direct practical application in the real world.
What changes would you make the Cooper’s rules?
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Big thanks to Logan for being my subject for the photos.
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