We've hashed this stuff out on this thread- and then some- just so you know... there's a wealth of humor, blood and guts, outright insults, friendships forged and lost, arguments sharpened... all on these blighted 23 pages of this thread! :-)
I think your post (Coyote Hunter) is reasonable and well-stated. And I am not at all interested in revisiting the horse we so thoroughly beat to a dusty depression already in this thread. That said, I do take issue with this:
"No one has ever been shot with an EMPTY chamber - intentionally OR accidently."
For a couple reasons. First, for a gun handler to assume that they are carrying a "safe" firearm because it's empty can, we know, be a recipe for disaster. I carry chambered and I know, beyond any doubt, that I am carrying a loaded firearm and must act accordingly. Not saying YOU would do this, but it's pretty easy to imagine some bucko being careless because hey, his gun is empty.
Second, many gun accidents happen during the loading, unloading, and action-manipulation stages of operation a gun. When you combine the heat of the moment- buck fever- with the necessity to load your firearm, I see potential for problems there that might even completely counterbalance whatever extra safety a guy might achieve by carrying unchambered! It's certainly debateable, at least.
Anyone driving to go hunt in a truck with mud tires is risking himself and everyone else on the highway MORE than if they carried chambered (assuming proper gun handling). A vehicle is the device by far most likely to kill you violently, and by far the most likely device you will operate that could kill someone else violently. So, if you are using mud tires on the freeway (poor wet traction, etc) then... think about that. If you've lifted your truck, for shame! And if you are going 10 mph over the speed limit, don't even bother to tell ANYONE about how they are unsafe carrying hot.
