Now is as good a time as any for a quick refresher.

Rule 1
Treat every gun as if it were loaded.
This means that if you pick up a weapon, even one you may have previously unloaded, you check it. You check it again. You check it again. When handed a weapon, I will drop the magazine and cycle its action three times or in the case of a revolver, open the cylinder and examine each chamber. You examine the barrel. Almost every AD comes with the explanation "I thought it was empty". This is impossible if you follow rule 1.
This actually happened to me once where someone handed me a loaded gun thinking it was empty. If you want the story I'll tell it in a reply.

Rule 2
Never point the muzzle at anything you don't want to destroy
This goes with rule 1 nicely. If you manage to fuck up royally by ignoring rule 1 you can't fuck up if you follow rule 2. It's simple. There's no mechanics involved. Don't point the gun at anything you wouldn't mind destroying.

Rule 3
Keep your booger hook off the bang switch
If you fuck up rule 1 and rule 2, rule 3 is there to save you. You don't put your finger on the trigger until you're ready to actually fire the weapon. On my preferred platform, it is simple to let your fingertip of your index finger ride the front trigger guard and easily slip onto the trigger when necessary. I'm always watching films looking for proper trigger discipline and love it when I see it. It's becoming more and more common a sight. Watch for it.

Rule 4
Be sure of your target and what is behind it
Shot spreads. Bullets can over penatrate (those pesky "safer" ball ammo rounds are more likely to hit something behind your target than those evil scary hollow points by the way). You have to anticipate that you will, not may, will hit something behind your target. Hopefully all you'll ever see is a paper target with a professional backstop behind it. But in a defensive situation awareness is the difference between life and death.

Darkos rules... unofficial but smart things to know...

Hitting moving targets is pretty fucking hard.
Hitting someone with a bullet won't make them fly back like they were hit by a truck. Lots of times people might not know that they were hit.
Aim for center mass. You're not going to hit a leg or a shoulder or score a head shot on a moving target.
Don't go guns blazing. Controlled fire is critical to winning an engagement. It took me years and tens of thousands of shots to perfect a double tap with my 1911 and every gun is different. I can't pull them off for shit with my wife's gun but I know my guns balance and recoil. I'm still training on Mozambiques. I'm good, not great at them.
Learn to reload in the dark.
If you're going to carry, be prepared to carry in condition 1 unless you're a highly skilled Israeli operator.
Go to the range. Shoot often. Shoot often. Did I mention often? I've got close to 50k 1911 .45 ACP rounds downrange and I'm still little more than a skilled amateur.
You always, always, always clear every weapon you touch. If i pick up a gun to hand to you, I will drop the magazine, cycle the action three times and hand it to you with the action open and pointed down. I will expect you to accept the weapon, check to ensure there is no magazine in it and cycle the action three times.
Sounds stupid but don't look into the barrel from the business end.
Eyes and ears.
If it's safe to do so at the range you go to shoot from multiple positions. Sure it's easy enough to hit a paper target with the weaver stance but can you do it one handed? Can you do it with your left if you're a righty? Can you shoot from a prone position? On one knee?
If you carry a holstered weapon practice drawing safely with snap caps. Practice a lot. Then practice more.

This just screams common sense. And respect.

It really comes down to that. In my opinion, the battle is less so much teaching these points to rookies or novices as much as it's complacency by veteran operators. I've seen some dumb shit done by long time gun owners.

The story I referenced in my OP...
Working at a guys house, third day of a four day job... and somehow conversation with the homeowner turns to firearms. He says you guys wanna see my gun room? I say sure. He shows us a room where he's got dozens of handguns on a pegboard wall. I see a familiar one, my exact 1911 nightmare. I say I've got one of those. He picks it up and hands it to me, hammer back, safety off. I drop the magazine, cycle the slide and a shiny new cartridge flies out the ejector port. I watched it sail to my right like it was in slow motion, stupid look on my face. I had just been handed a weapon with a live round in the chamber, single action with the hammer back and safety off. The homeowner kinda freaked out realizing what he did, and said duh I thought it was empty duh. That's what they all say.

Jesus. That's a guy who deserves to have his guns taken away. Basically has his guns in what I guess is an unsecured room and showing relative strangers where they are and what he has. Was the barrel pointing at you or him when he handed it to you?

He did not muzzle me. But it was on a pegboard right and one of the pegs went thru the trigger guard. That particular gun has a pretty light trigger. I believe mine is just under 5 lbs. If that gun swings on that peg wrong while removing it you have an ND.
The room was locked with a shitty simple indoor door lock. The kind you can pick with an eyeglass screwdriver. His grandkids were there during the day instead of daycare. I'd guess at the time they were 3 5 and maybe 9.

As much as possible, hold the gun with two hands. This stuff you see in the movies where people are practically marksmen when shooting with one hand is bullshit.

That was the first thing i remember my grandmother telling me about the proper way to fire a gun. She carried a .357 with her everywhere she went and I remember her telling me this when I was about 8 or 9 years old. Shot my first gun at about 11 on New Years Eve. Honestly that is one of the main reason that so many innocent people get shot. Guys that watch a helluva lot television holding and firing guns improperly. I remember when movies like Menace To Society came out guys began holding guns as they saw Cube holding it in the movie. I remember who the hell you expect to shoot doing that dumb shit

Jesus man that's a big fucking gun.
So dude I was off one day shooting my P92 and a couple mchenry cops came into the range to tune up. They were shooting their service pieces but they brought some fun ones too. Now I was done but I hung back watching them. They apparently had also been watching me because they were talking amongst themselves about my marksmanship. So one offered to met me fire off his 357. I'm like sure. So I get set, line up, finger off trigger, and settle in, put my finger on the trigger and BLAMMO that thing just fuckin goes off. Now I was pointed downrange, and hit center mass on my target but that thing redefined hair trigger. I called my trigger light at 5 lbs, this had to be like 2.5 or 3. Scared me shirtless. Those two cops were dying laughing. Asked me if I wanted another go with that 357 and I said no fucking thanks man.

That was the first thing i remember my grandmother telling me about the proper way to fire a gun. She carried a .357 with her everywhere she went and I remember her telling me this when I was about 8 or 9 years old. Shot my first gun at about 11 on New Years Eve. Honestly that is one of the main reasons that so many innocent people get shot. Guys that watch a helluva lot television holding and firing guns improperly. I remember when movies like Menace To Society came out guys began holding guns as they saw Cube holding it in the movie. I remember asking who the hell you expect to shoot doing that dumb shit

My grandfather would've kicked me and my dad's asses if I'd have done that dumb shit. But only one guy ever tried him on 39th and Prairie. And he took a hammer to the head from my grandfather when he was 78. Tough sob.

Wait a minute. Cube wasn't in Menace ii society...

My grandfather would've kicked me and my dad's asses if I'd have done that dumb shit. But only one guy ever tried him on 39th and Prairie. And he took a hammer to the head from my grandfather when he was 78. Tough sob.

Wait a minute. Cube wasn't in Menace ii society...

My bad Boyz N the Hood. All that shit from back then sort of ran together for me. Especially whenever i start thinking about all of the Cali guys that I attended school with and their ¨loked out¨ bullshit

.357 is my cow killer. Broken leg, something I can’t fix. 357. I hate shooting that gun. With adrenaline running it’s different but without it’s a bit of recoil. .44 much worse which is why I’ve refrained from purchasing my dream .44 or .454. Don’t see the point as I’d never shoot it and last I checked no grizzly or polar bears walking around the farm.

My dad had a gun case. Glass front and unlocked. Never touched it. Don’t know why, just knew it was off limits. He apparently had a 357 as well but I never went looking and the thought would never occur to me. My shit is in a safe cause better safe than sorry.

There was a trap shoot the other day. When i do that usually it involves 95% of people using over understand. Not this time. The muzzle discipline was not great and I missed seeing the open action or of the doubles. I was offering people to use mine just so I’d feel safer. I ran a launcher so I didn’t see the worst of it. Did mention it to a couple people to watch that muzzle.

Wait, your grandpa hit a guy with a hammer who pulled the gun on him?
I fucking love this man.

Reader, I'm assuming, based on you being an old bastard yourself, that he's already graduated. That being said I would have loved to buy a guy like that a beer and hear his stories.

He came to my college graduation (longest trip in 16 years), retired, then went to Hawaii and died two days after we watched an Alabama game.

And then I learned just how tough be was. But oddly enough the first picture of myself I've seen was him holding me as a diaper clad 4 month old. Big grin on his face.

That's awesome man. I too loved my grandfather and loved me too. He was a mean, tough old bird that I wouldn't have wanted to tangle with even as he was 73 years old. He killed a couple nazis with his bayonet. You just don't fuck with guys like that and they don't I my opinion make men like that much any more.

Exactly. And when he passed, we realized how tough an old bird my grandmother was. As Link noted, it was a tough area not that she ever had reason to worry.

That's awesome man. I too loved my grandfather and loved me too. He was a mean, tough old bird that I wouldn't have wanted to tangle with even as he was 73 years old. He killed a couple nazis with his bayonet. You just don't fuck with guys like that and they don't I my opinion make men like that much any more.