The most complete firearm-safety resource on Cape Cod — the four rules, secure storage, teaching kids, the Massachusetts law, training, and where to get a free lock. No slogans. No asterisks. Just the safety.
You expected a bumper sticker. This is the manual. Every word below is real, and it will keep someone in your house alive.
Start with the Four Rules ↓Every accident is at least one rule broken. Follow all four and a mistake stays harmless. These are the industry-standard rules taught by the National Shooting Sports Foundation and every certified instructor in the country.
The muzzle never covers anything you are not willing to destroy. A safe direction is the one where a discharge harms no one. This single rule, kept perfectly, makes every other mistake survivable.
Not "assume it's loaded" — treat it that way, every time. "I didn't know it was loaded" is the sentence at the start of most firearm tragedies. Check the chamber yourself; never trust someone else's word.
Index finger flat along the frame until your sights are on target and you have decided to fire. The trigger is not a resting place. This is the difference between a startle and a gunshot.
A bullet does not stop at the target. Identify the target, and identify what is behind it — walls, neighbors, the road. A handgun round can travel over a mile. You own every projectile you fire.
The unloading habit: whenever a firearm changes hands or comes out of storage — remove the magazine first, then lock the action open and physically look and feel that the chamber is empty. Magazine out before chamber check, every single time. Do it even when you "know" it's unloaded. Especially then.
Ask any responsible owner what matters most and the answer is the same: store it locked when it's not on you. An unsecured gun is what a curious child finds, what a thief grabs, and what a person in crisis reaches for. Locking it up defeats all three.
If the rest of this page were advice, this section is the law — and Falmouth is in the Commonwealth. Under M.G.L. c. 140 § 131L, safe storage isn't a suggestion. It's a strict-liability criminal statute, which means the Commonwealth can charge you even if no one is ever hurt.
It is unlawful to store or keep any firearm, rifle, or shotgun unless it is secured in a locked container or fitted with a tamper-resistant mechanical lock or other safety device, properly engaged so the firearm is inoperable by anyone but the owner or a lawfully authorized user. A firearm carried by or under the direct control of the owner is not "stored."
Strict liability: unlocked and not under your control is the violation — harm is not required. Verify the current text at malegislature.gov. This is general information, not legal advice.
Curiosity is not a character flaw; it's a childhood. The job of the adult is to make sure curiosity meets a locked container, not a loaded chamber — and to teach the child what to do when they encounter a gun anywhere else.
If a child finds a gun, they should:
1. STOP.
2. Don't touch.
3. Run away.
4. Tell an adult.
Rehearse it like a fire drill. Repeat it until it's reflex. It works at your house, a friend's house, and the one place you'd never expect.
The four rules never change. How you apply them does — at the range, on the road, in the field, and at the bench. Here's the discipline for each.
Suicide is the single largest category of firearm death in America. The responsible-owner community — not despite being pro-gun, but because it is — treats this as a safety issue, the same as a trigger lock. Means and moment matter. Putting time and distance between a person in crisis and a firearm saves lives, and it is fully reversible.
Temporarily store your firearms elsewhere — a trusted friend, a range, or an FFL — until things are stable.
This is not confiscation and it is not permanent. It is exactly the same instinct as taking the car keys from someone who's had too much to drink. It is what a responsible owner does. Programs like Hold My Guns connect owners with FFLs for voluntary, temporary storage, no questions asked.
In crisis, call or text 988 — the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 24/7. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911.
There is no reason to skip storage over money. Project ChildSafe, run by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, has distributed more than 41 million free firearm safety kits through 15,000+ law enforcement agencies in all 50 states.
Own it. Store it. Respect it. That's the whole coalition, in five words.