One might choose not to wear a seatbelt when driving across as frozen lake just as one would likely carry a weapon hot while crawling through the alders after a wounded bear. Both situations actually likely lower one's risk of injury.
One of the "crux" issues in my mind is the fact that many hunting situations have no reason to carry hot other than a big "what if." In many cases these what ifs can be accounted for through greater hunting skill and diligence on the part of the hunter. Those are the situations where I have the biggest problem with a cocked, hot rifle. It's called hunting, in part, because we pit our senses and skills against the animals'. If we come up short, having the ability to blast away at a fleeing animal who "beat" us at the game is, perhaps, not even sporting - if that even matters.
This is the big game forum. Big Game are typically hunted with high powered rifles. That is really the context in which the topic should be addressed. MOO of course.
Sometimes, the air you 'let in'matters less than the air you 'let out'.
