Origin of the four rules of gun safety

M

Mal H

Staff
I have always heard that the Four Rules were attributed to Col. Jeff Cooper. We even have that attribute in our Firearms Safety section.

In the latest issure of American Rifleman (Aug., 2000), the son of the late, great Finn Aagaard, Harald Aagaard, said:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>He [Aagaard] felt very strongly about gun safety. [ND's and shooting deaths] prompted him to write one of his favorite articles on the subject, "The Four Commandments." They can be summed up as follows: Treat every gun as if it is loaded, don't point it at anything you do not want to shoot, keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot, and be sure of your target and what lies beyond.[/quote]

These are the exact same rules as attributed to Cooper. Does anyone have proof certain of who originated the Four Rules? Whether it is Aagaard or Cooper, they are excellent rules from a true authority. I'd just like to know who really came up with them first.

As an aside, Finn Aagaard said of Cooper, "Warts and all I like and admire Cooper a lot." So maybe they came up with them together.
 
Interesting question. While I can't offer any source that proves otherwise, it would seem a bit of a stretch to grant full credit (or shared credit with Aagard) to Col. Cooper.

What I can offer is anectodal - when my Dad taught me to shoot (I was 10, so figure 1961) those rules were taught to me. BUT! They weren't treated as rules, per se - they were simple common sense... e.g.

"If I, or anybody else tries to hand you a firearm with the action closed, do not accept it. Have them open the action or otherwise display to your satisfaction that the weapon is unloaded."

"Only point the barrel at a target you intend to shoot."

"Don't walk around with your finger on the trigger."

"Don't shoot 'blind'. When you're up in the hills, make sure you have a solid back stop and know where you are."

In 1961 neither my Dad nor myself had heard of Jeff Cooper.

I think it more likely that Cooper, with his gifts for language and writing, blended the common sense into 4 succinct rules, which were then published, etc.

Cliff
 
I attended API 250 course at Gunsite in March 1980. We were taught the THREE cardinal rules of gun safety:

1. All guns are always loaded.

2. Be sure of your target.

3. Never allow the muzzle to cover anything you are not willing to destroy.

I had heard safety lectures by Gunsite graduates with the above perhaps six or eight months prior to my class. Both attributed the THREE rules to Gunsite.

It was several years later that I first heard/read the FOUR rules of gun safety, adding----
4. Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.

(The "finger out of the trigger guard" is a somewhat later variant. It surely makes it easier for an instructor to keep track of whether or not the finger is ON the trigger. I really like the latter #4 rule better, because, or course, with finger in trigger guard, even if not touching trigger, a stumble and convulsive clinching of the hand can still cause a discharge.)

Yes, some variation of these rules has been taught for many years--look at the old "Ten Commandments of Gun Safety," circulated by the NRA and Boy Scouts.
The charm of the safety rules taught at LTC Cooper's American Pistol Institute was that the WHOLE thing was distilled into just 23 words. (Later, 33 words.) If one accepts the truth of THE RULES, makes them part of one's being, and follows them, then one will never perpetrate a tragedy. You can still be embarrassed, but you won't unintentionally shoot someone.

I am a great admirer of Cooper, and tend to ascribe the distillation to Cooper. He has constantly fine-tuned the teaching technique, and, as we have seen, some of the doctrine. Also--he was very careful to give full attribution to those he felt made significant contributions to pistolcraft and combat technique: Jack Weaver, Ray Chapman, Harries, Fairbairn, and others. If Mr. Aagaard had put together THE RULES in anything like that format, I'm sure Cooper would have given credit.

Okay, we're back some 21 years in this form. Can anyone document them any farther back?

For freedom and shooting safety--
RR

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---The Second Amendment ensures the rest of the Bill of Rights---
 
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