As a graduate of several firearm training courses, both municipal and private, I firmly subscribe (and dilligently practice) the following four firearm safety rules:

1). Always treat every weapon as if it were loaded.
2). Never allow the muzzle to cover anything that you are not willing to destroy.
3). Keep your finger outside the trigger guard until ready to shoot.
4). Be certain of the target and what's in line with it, both in front of and beyond it.


One interesting thing that I noticed while attending the Front Sight Firearms Training Institute is that they absolutely refuse to ever use the term "accidental discharge". Firearms simply don't discharge by themselves, so anytime a firearm discharges "accidentally", one or more of the four rules above have not been followed, and therefore by definition the more appropriate term to use is "negligent discharge".

Jim