Proper Muzzle Discipline – Critical for Firearm Safety, Especially Handguns
Firearm safety is the most important firearm skill to possess.

It is all too common for people to have the rules of gun safety memorized, but still not abide by them in practice – especially with handguns. Due to the compact nature of handguns, it is all too easy to accidentally point the muzzle in an unsafe direction. Negligent discharges when the firearm is pointed in a safe direction is not ideal, but people won’t get an extra hole in them. Poor muzzle discipline paired with other negligence can get real bad, real fast.
Proper muzzle discipline is harder than most think
It is extremely easy, particularly with handguns, to accidentally muzzle sweep yourself – especially when learning conceal carry techniques. Hickok45 goes over a number of ways people commonly muzzle sweep themselves or accidentally point firearms in an unsafe direction.
Build good safety habits
Good habits are only built through repetition, doesn’t matter if it’s firearms or anything else in life. Creating safe firearms handling habits requires lots of handling of firearms or firearm replicas. (shocking, I know) When handling a firearm or firearm replica, always pay extra attention to where you’re pointing it and where your fingers are in relation to the trigger. Don’t make any excuses when it comes to safe firearm handling.
Next time you’re at the range, please pay extra attention to your muzzle.
Written by Brian Purkiss - always a student, sometimes a teacher.
I don't consider myself a competition shooter - I think of myself as a performance pistol shooter. I am all about performing at as high of a level as possible. Towards that end, I am obsessive about learning how to perform. I spend a lot of my life learning from the best across the entire firearms world and even into other areas of performance and other sports. I am a USPSA Carry Optics Grandmaster, currently working towards my second GM title in the Open division.
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