SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/hunt-safety-can-fail

What is the right way to think about the safety on a gun?

It is a mechanical device that can fail, so it never replaces safe handling.

  1. A mechanical device that can fail ✔
  2. A sure way to keep a gun from firing
  3. Only needed when the gun is in a case

Why: A safety is a mechanical part, and parts can wear out or be left partly on by mistake. Hunter education teaches it is a backup, not a substitute for muzzle control. You are the gun's main safety.

Huh, didn't know that: The NSSF warns never to set a safety between positions, because half-safe is unsafe.

The dad joke
Why did the safety feel unappreciated? Everyone said it was just a backup.
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Sources

  1. NJ Hunter Education Shotgun Practice Exam https://nj.gov/dep/fgw/pdf/hunted/shtgunexam.pdf
  2. NSSF, Rules of Firearms Safety https://www.nssf.org/safety/rules-firearms-safety/

Test yourself in the game

Hunting SafetyUnder the primary rules of firearm safety, how should you treat every firearm?Hunting SafetyWhen carrying a firearm, where should your trigger finger be?Hunting SafetyWhich firearm safety rule does the NSSF call the most basic rule of all?

That's stuff everyone should know.