If you carry or even own a gun, safety should be your number-one priority. The four rules should be engraved on your brain like your first-ever address. In case they aren't yet, here they are again:

All guns are always loaded. Treat them that way.

Never point the gun at anything you are not willing to destroy.

Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target (and you have made the decision to shoot).

Be sure of your target and what is beyond it.

GLOCK launched the annual GLOCK Safety Pledge Drive with the chance to win a 30th Anniversary pistol by helping to spread the word about gun safety. Make the pledge on Glock's safety page at us.glock.com/safetypledge and earn an entry for a custom engraved 30th Anniversary Pistol. Earn more entries by sharing and spreading the word about firearms safety on the GLOCK Safety Pledge page here https://us.glock.com/safetypledge/.

Promoting Firearms Safety

 GLOCK actively works year-round to promote firearms safety across the United States. They proudly join a community of law enforcement, community leaders, businesses, and the firearms industry to raise public awareness about reducing firearm incidents. The responsibility of practicing and promoting firearms safety is an ongoing and everyday commitment. Firearms safety is intrinsically worked into every facet of the company's ethos, from product design to community outreach.

 "Everything we do at GLOCK revolves around safety," said Josh Dorsey, vice president of Sales at GLOCK. "From the three safeties built into the product design, to annual donations that support shooting programs that promote safety, to community outreach such as this annual drive. Safety is at the core of all things GLOCK and it is the responsibility of us all to pledge, practice, and promote firearms safety."

Handi-Racker Helps

Sometimes the slide on a semi-automatic pistol can be difficult to work. Many small pistols have a slide that is harder to pull back because there is less surface to grab as well as heavier springs necessary for the shorter slide and recoil distance. This is even more of a problem if you're older, very young, have arthritis, etc.

Enter the Handi-Racker. This little block-like device makes racking pistols almost effortless. Just put the Handi-Racker on the top of the slide, put the front of the Handi-Racker against a wall or a solid surface, and push the pistol forward. Voila! The gun is racked and ready.

The Handi-Racker is also great for clearing a really stuck jam or for helping you disassemble the gun for cleaning. It's made of extruded polyethylene that won't mar your gun, and comes in two sizes to fit almost any pistol on the market. It retails for about $30 and you can check it out at http://www.handiracker.com.

A Good Idea: A Lock Box

If you like to carry a gun with you on your hikes but don't want to keep it on you in the car, you should really consider buying a lock box for the vehicle. You can get one online or at almost any outdoor store. They are metal, lined with foam so they don't damage your guy, and they have secure locks that keep your gun out of the wrong hands.

Airline cable attaches the box to an immovable fixture of some sort in your vehicle so it can't be removed without unlocking the box first. We have two of them and I recommend them to anyone who transports a weapon. Here's an example of one: http://www.center-of-mass.com/Store_InCarGunSafe.htm.

And Another: Shooting Gloves

Margie has arthritis in her right hand - mostly in the trigger finger and thumb. It has made her trigger finger sort of corkscrew around and has had the effect of making it difficult for her to pull the trigger over and over on her smaller pistols. Something about the small size of the trigger makes her finger hurt. She's been putting a Bandaid on her finger, but I decided to buy her some shooting gloves instead.

These are helpful even if you don't have arthritis, and especially if you are out hunting in cold weather. You can buy good shooting gloves at any gun or outdoor store. Try them on and get the ones that allow you the most dexterity.

Margie only wears them with her smaller guns, and only because she is shooting hundreds of rounds at a time. In an emergency she wouldn't have to stop and pull the gloves on. You may not need them all the time, but they have a place for many shooters.

A Laser Place To Shoot

Going to the range is great, but it's limited - you can't move while shooting, you can't draw from a holster, and you can't engage multiple targets in most cases. You can do all these things at matches and classes, but what if you just want to practice on your own, in private? Finding a place to shoot in the desert is getting harder and harder.

One way you can get a lot of practice is with a laser system that lets you practice shooting at home or wherever you want. One of the coolest I've seen is Laser Ammo (laser-ammo.com). The laser is actually in a cartridge that fits in your gun like a bullet. When you pull the trigger, the firing pin causes the cartridge to emit a laser pulse that you can see on regular paper targets or on anything else. You can also buy electronic targets that light up when the laser hits the mark, and you can get multiple targets packs. A cartridge for a 9mm is around $100, and interactive target packages range from $100 - $350.

But think of the money you'll save on ammo and on gas because you don't have to drive to the range!