I'd like to take advantage of our recent increase in visitors.  Much of what will be discussed in this post and hopefully, this thread, will be redundant to most of our members.  We are a firearms community and endeavor to uphold the strictest rules of effective weapons handling and control.

Please add your safety tips to this thread.

The 1st Rule of Gun Safety - The Gun Is Always Loaded!
EVERY TIME you pick up or draw a gun, inspect it in a safe manner, control your muzzle, and always treat it as a loaded gun. You should VISUALLY inspect your gun's chamber every time you pick it up even if you just sat it down moments before. It may seem redundant but establishing good habits may save a tragedy during a moment of "brain-fade". Remove all ammunition and loaded magazines from the immediate area when handling any gun. Also, if you hand someone your gun, VISUALLY show them the empty chamber and accept no less in return! An experienced gun handler would never feel insulted.

The 2nd Rule of Gun Safety - Never Point A Gun At Something You're Not Prepared To Destroy!
The best way to handle a gun is to imagine the worst case scenario: Assume your "empty" gun is loaded and that it's going to function PERFECTLY! When you press the trigger it will FIRE! Since you are prepared for that, you should only point the gun in a safe direction - never allowing the muzzle to sweep you or someone else. That way, if "brain-fade" does result in a Negligent Discharge (ND) , it will be into a safe impact area and there won't be a tragedy.

The 3rd Rule of Gun Safety - Always Be Sure Of Your Target And What Is Behind It!
Bullets can penetrate lots of things, many of which may surprise you. Identify your target before firing - even before dry-firing. If you are not sure, DON'T FIRE! Just as important, make sure there's a safe impact area behind your target. For home dry-fire practice, find and aim only at a BULLET PROOF BACKSTOP. Even though you have checked and double-checked your gun, you should still treat your gun as though it's loaded and functional. Plasterboard walls and outer walls are not bulletproof. A handgun bullet can easily travel through several rooms before stopping. Who is in these rooms? If you're not sure, and you still aimed in that direction, SHAME ON YOU!

The 4th Rule of Gun Safety - Keep Your Finger Off The Trigger Until Your Sights Are On The Target!
KEEP YOUR FINGER OUTSIDE THE TRIGGER GUARD! Almost all Negligent Discharges (ND) are caused by placing the finger on the trigger when you aren't prepared to fire. A finger on the trigger during reloading, during movement, during the draw, holstering, or while clearing a jam have led to several Negligent Discharges (ND). It's difficult to isolate the trigger finger from the muscles required to hold the gun firmly - they all want to contract together. It can be especially difficult under stress and anxiety. Therefore, THE FINGER SHOULD NOT TOUCH THE TRIGGER UNTIL THE INSTANT YOU ARE PREPARED TO FIRE! This holds true even if you find yourself in a legitimate self-defense situation.

Referenced

I'll give this a bump for G.P.

Quoted: Was there an incident that spurned this post?? usually, it seems like there is when this info gets re-posted. Reference the death of a Gunsite student earlier this year.

No actually.  But anytime you have a lot of news coverage about firearms, people tend to explore ( as I'm sure you've noticed in the recent spike of IPs ).

This particular news coverage is focusing on OUR community.   You can bet dollars to donuts that some of these folks are going to gain an interest in our hobby.  Many inexperienced shooters haven't had the fortune of Safety Rules exposure.

Hopfully some of those interested in shooting semi-autos who are inexperienced will end up reading this list.  

You may notice that lately the number of guests rank higher than the number of members on the site.  If you check our banner score you'd see that we went from an average of 11,500 up to 15,000+ in a matter of two days.  That's two days of news covering our favored choice of weapons.

And that is exactly why I want as many unknowledable people to be exposed to the Rules of firearm safety.