In what condition is every gun you own right now? Unloaded? Loaded? Loaded and chambered? Is the external safety gadget on or off, for each firearm? Are they in different conditions or all the same? How do you know? Are you 100% certain or would you have to do a press check to be sure? Does everyone in your household know with certainty the condition of each firearm you own without touching it? How?

This is not a situation you can treat with casual negligence. If you own one or more firearms, responsibility requires that you and everyone in your household know at all times with 100% certainty the condition of every one of them by merely observing how it is placed/stored. If you or they do not, responsibility requires you fix that situation right now. It’s easy.

Having this level of certainty means that for any of your firearms, holstered on your person, stored, staged…no matter where or how they are placed, located, or carried, there should never be a moment where you or anyone else in your household has to wonder whether it is unloaded, loaded and/or chambered, or if a “safety” selector is on or off. In the event someone in your household must grab it in a time of desperate need, they can be certain of its current condition even without touching it, and be able to act deliberately rather than tentatively to defend life.

The way to establish this clear and easy knowledge is to use a system of simple conventions.

Note: The purpose of this system for condition certainty is NOT so that you can sidestep the rules of firearm safety. Rather, it is so that you and your entire family can know with certainty what is required to get any/every gun you own into a fight to defend your life and family, without doubt and without futzing around with it and wasting precious seconds in a deadly situation. This system allows you to have this condition certainty no matter what type of gun it is; no matter how or where it is stored, placed, or carried; no matter if it's in a holster or naked... this system allows you to act deliberately and not tentatively.

A System of Certainty

Here is a simple system that I know from experience works well to ensure you and those in your home never have to lean on discrete memory in order to know any of your guns’ condition. So long as you have no children younger than, say, 9 in the home, even if just on occasion, System 1 is likely best for you. Otherwise, System 2 is likely best.

System 1 Conventions:

1. All guns are always loaded, except while being cleaned, no matter whether they’re currently carried, stored, or staged. Chamber empty (except as detailed below).
2. All pistols in a holster are loaded and chambered, whether on your person, stored in a safe, staged for home defense or even if in a range bag; holstered means chambered. Therefore, you simply draw it from the holster and you're ready to defend.
3. All auto and semi-auto carbines have the bolt closed on an empty chamber (with a full magazine loaded, per convention 1) and the selector is on safe (this convention includes any “pistol”-configured AR or AK firearms). Therefore, you merely rack the charging handle and you're ready to defend.
4. For naked or otherwise non-holstereds pistols, as well as bolt rifles and shotguns, if there is an external safety control, the control is set to fire. Therefore, you merely cycle the gun and you're ready to defend.

You might use slightly different conventions. Maybe your pistols in holsters are not chambered. Maybe your semi-auto/auto rifles are chambered. I don’t recommend those approaches, but they may be appropriate for your situation. The point is to have as much blanket consistency as is practicable (for instance, never have some holstered pistols chambered and others not chambered!).

If you’re going to keep any of your guns unloaded, it is then imperative that you keep ALL guns unloaded (convention 1 must be 100% applicable to all guns not currently on your person) and perhaps opt for System 2 (below).

A System Variation

System 1 conventions might not work well for you if you have young children – and/or young children are sometimes in the home, like grandchildren, neighbors’ kids, or friends’ children. As such, System 2 might be best for you.

System 2 Conventions:

1. All guns stored or staged, are always unloaded (and yet always treated as though they are loaded). Therefore, any gun not on your person must first be charged with a loaded magazine, a round racked into the chamber, and then you're ready to defend.
2. A pistol carried on your person is always loaded and chambered (and in a holster). Therefore, simply draw from the holster and defend.

It is no more complicated than this. Once your children are of a certain age (that you determine, perhaps around 6 to 9 years old) and properly trained, it is best that you change to the more relevant and appropriate System 1 conventions.

Note: if children of any age other than yours are ever in your home, you have a legal and moral responsibility to ensure they have no way of gaining access to your firearms. They do not know your system and are likely wholly unsafe with firearms. Take appropriate steps.

For Carry & Training

If you don’t have an inviolate rule regarding the condition of your carry gun at all times, you cannot act deliberately when required. Instead, because of ignorance or second guessing or a simple mistake, you must act tentatively or mistakenly. This sort of irresponsibility can easily cost you your life, or the life of someone you love.

Component to the aforementioned systems, to gun safety, and to carry competence is the fact that one should never reholster an unloaded pistol; not at home, not in training, not in a class…never. When you’re training at the range and drawing from and returning to a holster, and run empty, you must either reload the pistol before reholstering – or – place the pistol on a barrel, table, or bench and pointed in a safe direction with the action open until you are ready to reload it.

No exceptions.

If you get into the habit of sometimes, even rarely, having an unloaded pistol in your holster, you will never again be able to be sure of your gun’s status. You may think you can, but you are wrong and 100% guaranteed to fail.

And yes, this means that if an instructor requires that you have an unloaded or even un-chambered pistol in your holster during a class, don’t take that class. It stands to reason that if you are unsure about the conventions of an instructor’s class, discuss this matter with them and explain your inviolate safety rule before you commit to the class. It is likely that accommodations can be made. If not, you know your choice.

Pop Quiz: Is It Loaded?

Regardless of your system, the importance of always treating every firearm as though it is loaded and ready to fire cannot be overstated. Neither you nor anyone in your household should ever ask or hold in their minds the question of whether or not a firearm is loaded. All firearms must be treated as live weapons no matter their condition.

If you need to handle a firearm for reasons other than to align your sights and fire, the compulsory task is to remove the magazine and check/clear the chamber. You don’t wonder if it is loaded, you simply clear it…and then continue to treat it as if it were loaded.

If ever you adopt the habit of handing an empty firearm differently than a loaded & chambered firearm, you are doomed to a tragic and deadly negligent incident. Your system is for surety of action, and NOT for relief from the vital 4 rules of firearm safety.

Dry-fire Practice

To engage in dry-fire practice you have to introduce a mild variation into your system. While the gun carried on your person will still be loaded, it will just be loaded with snap caps rather than with live ammunition.

For dry-fire practice you will unload your firearm and take it, your empty magazine(s), and snap caps into a different room where no live ammunition is present and charge your magazine(s) with the snap caps, which you will load and chamber into your pistol before holstering it. If you have a gun that has a workable trigger and doesn’t need to be charged for each dry shot, use mags loaded with snap caps anyway so that you don’t get into the habit of being okay with an empty gun (you must never put an empty gun into your holster).

When you’re finished with dry-fire practice, reverse the process and take your now-empty gun back to where your ammo & mags are (the one place where you load, unload, and clean your guns) and return it to its proper condition; be that loaded or unloaded for storage – or loaded, to again be carried on your person …in which case I highly recommend repeating, out loud, “My gun is hot now, and loaded with live ammo,” a few times before getting on with your day.

Conclusion

Human beings are creatures of habit. The only way to eliminate negligent habits is to forge unconscious, deliberately uncompromising, safe habits (as described in the 4 Rules of Firearm Safety) and to never rely on gadgets, mechanics, or technology in place of individual responsibility.

A firearm cannot be safe or unsafe. A person is safe or unsafe. No firearm gadget or lever can make an unsafe person safe with a firearm. Graveyards are filled with the victims of those who negligently believed otherwise.

You do not want or need the anxiety of ever wondering whether your gun or one of your many guns is loaded or unloaded, chambered or un-chambered, safety on or off. These are things that responsibility requires you and your household members know with 100% certainty at all times so, when needed, any of you can get any gun into the fight surely.

Use a system. Make sure everyone in your home knows the system. Conduct periodic pop quizzes to ensure everyone is on the same page. Be safe and be certain.