More on “The Rules”

I had one commenter, and Joe Huffman say they prefer the NRA’s rules more than Coopers. I have no beef with NRA’s rules. If you really try to pin me down, I’m really more in Tam’s “just don’t be stupid” camp. But given that people tend to communicate socially through the use of memes, both rule sets seem like they are well adapted to serve the purpose intended.

NRA’s rules have often been latched on to by our opponents, because they don’t consider a gun carried or kept nearby for self-defense to be “in use,” but I see that as a poor reason to reject them. I’m more interested in winning the mnemonic struggle for safety, so our opponents don’t get to use the stupid against us. I’m not really too concerned with what accomplishes that, as long as the right ideas get across.

Related posts (automatically generated):

  1. On Organized Ranges
  2. Glock Foregrip Dangers
  3. NRA Needs to Shorten the Leash on their Fundraising People

7 thoughts on “More on “The Rules””

  1. The NRA ruleset appears to be built for cold ranges. Guns are generally unloaded, but don’t point them at anyone and be careful around the trigger just in case. Coopers are very similar but are more suited to carry and practical use of arms.

  2. I am gonna let this one ride out till Sunday and then post my thoughts alongside the Gun Motivator of the Day. But it does make me cringe some that some people are actually seeing the Four Rules now only as the Four Suggestions for whatever silly reason.

  3. The NRA says in the Personal Protection Outside the Home course that concealed carry is considered “in use”.

    Just a note.

  4. All of the newer materials explicitly state that guns for self defense are always in use. This goes all the way down to the Basic Pistol and Home Firearms Safety courses.

  6. I never took the NRA rules to suggest that a gun “ready to use” does not apply to one that is holstered and ready to use for CCW purposes. I certainly don’t teach it that way to my CHL students.

  7. I’m a NRA Training Counselor and I can confirm that the NRA specifically recognizes that defensive guns are “in use” for the purpose of the “Three rules” and can be loaded even when not being actively fired.

    Of course, the owner is still responsible to make sure the firearm is secure from unauthorize acces, but there is nothing in the NRA Three Rules to keep you from having a loaded home defense or CCW gun.

    This is spelled out explicitly in the NRA Personal Protection in the Home instructor’s manual and in other NRA literature.

    Rob Reed (Trebor)

Comments are closed.