Rule 5?

Cracked posts a very good piece of gun-handling advice.

I always recommend that people follow the four rules, but I’ve always maintained that they are not quite good enough.  There are other items, like keeping a clear head (no distractions), not getting tunnel vision*, understanding how to operate your weapon (or being watched by someone that does) and so forth. 

One huge rule that I always, always, ALWAYS follow, which I don’t think that anyone has given enough thought to, is the safety rule that Cracked talked about in this gruesome article:

If you manage to drop a firearm, DO NOT attempt to catch it.

"Just let it go, man.  Let it go..."

Modern firearms pretty much all have “will not fire unless the trigger is pulled” safeties of some sort on them.  You are relatively safe that if your gun goes clattering to the ground, that it will not discharge as a result 

There are some exceptions, REMINGTON, but those are few and far between

Trying to catch said gun, however, is about the most patently unsafe thing you could possibly do, because you are going after that weapon, which is falling uncontrollably, with ten things that the trigger on that weapon was expressly designed to be actuated by – your fingers. 

Bet you thought I was going to say something else, right?

More people have shot themselves trying to catch a dropped piece than I care to think about, because when you grab a falling gun, you have no way to ensure that you aren’t grabbing it by its trigger, which is the only way to guarantee that the “a dropped gun won’t go off” safety will fail miserably. 

This is your brain on a poorly-caught gun.  Any questions?