4.7 Safety Tips

• Many home firearm incidents involve the use of handguns. Keep handguns out of the reach of inexperienced shooters and children.
• If you are around a gun that is new or unfamiliar to you, leave it alone! It could be loaded, and careless handling might cause it to fire.
• Maintain safe muzzle control at all times! Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.
• The safest way to carry handguns and other firearms is with an empty chamber. If there is a cartridge under the hammer, some handguns can discharge when they are dropped or if the hammer is struck by a blow.
• Make sure that handguns (and all other firearms) are unloaded before you handle them.

Typical Location of Safeties

The red outlines indicate where safeties are typically located on a handgun.

Just because a handgun may be legal for hunting, it still may not be the right choice.