The 4 laws of gun safety are the 4 primary guidelines for

firearm safety. By following them, you'll ensure safe handling and shooting of firearms and prevent any accidents from occurring. These rules have been taught to and learned by thousands of people over the years, and have remained the dominant gun safety maxims for good reason: they work!

So, if you're wondering about how to handle and operate firearms safely, these four rules will give you a good grounding in firearms safety. These have been taken from the Alien Gear Gun Safety Guide. Take a look if you need more information about how to properly handle firearms.

Step 1: Treat All Guns As If They Are Always Loaded.

A good many accidental shootings, a number of them fatal, have occurred because somebody assumed a gun wasn't loaded when it was. To prevent any such accidents, there's a simple rule to follow - assume every gun is loaded and treat it as such, even if you know for a fact that it isn't. There have been instance where people forgot they had reloaded a pistol and shot themselves or others.

By treating every gun as if it's loaded, this precludes any such accident from occurring should you ever handle a firearm you don't know to be loaded or unloaded.

Step 2: Never Point the Gun at Something You Are Not Prepared to Destroy

The next rule is never to point a gun at anything you aren't willing to destroy. Should an accidental or otherwise unintentional discharge occur, you are responsible for what the bullet hits - be it property or worse, a living thing or person. As a result, guns should be pointed in a safe direction at all times, toward something that you do not mind being hit with a bullet - such as the ground.

Step 3: Keep Your Finger Off the Trigger Until

The most common cause of negligent or accidental discharges is the trigger being pulled when the person handling the pistol did not mean to. The easiest way to prevent this from happening is not to have your finger on the trigger unless you mean to fire. This is the simplest rule and arguably the most important. So, to ensure safety, make sure your finger doesn't touch the trigger unless you're willing to fire.

Step 4: Always Be Sure of Your Target and What Is Behind It

Lastly, always know what you're shooting it and what is in the immediate vicinity. Pay attention to what's above, below, to the sides and behind what you're shooting at. This is important on several fronts. Firstly, it is up to you as the shooter to keep ricochets from happening, which can be fatally dangerous. Secondly, the shooter has to be aware of the potential consequences if they miss. Just like how a hunter has to have a clean shot on game before shooting, so does a target shooter or defensive shooter. It therefore falls on a person to be sure of what they are shooting at and whether it's safe to take the shot.

These are the four rules of firearms safety. While there are other safety aspects regarding firearms - such as principles of safe storage and so on - observing these four rules at all times when handling firearms will go a long way indeed to ensuring safe handling and operation.

For more info about gun safety take a look at the Alien Gear Holsters Complete Gun Safety Guide.