Welcome back to our fictional gun store, where we’re teaching you how to impress the employees by being safe and knowledgeable. Today we’re looking at one of the most common mistakes people make in the store: putting their finger on the trigger.

We all know rule 2 of gun safety, right? “Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to fire” or some variation of that. That applies in the gun shop as well. When you’ve been handed a cleared out gun, whether it’s a rifle, shotgun, revolver, or semi-auto, the first thing you should do is find a spot to place your trigger finger that’s well clear of the trigger.

Yes, we all know that the gun is “unloaded,” but the reason we do this is by always practicing safe gun handling, we make those actions habitual. The more you practice keeping your finger safely outside the trigger guard, the more that action becomes an automatic reflex. When that action’s a reflex, you become a much safer gun owner.

Now, there is one time it’s okay to touch the trigger in a gun store, and it goes like this. You’ve been handed a cleared out pistol, but you want to test the trigger. You ask the clerk: “is it okay if I dry fire this?” If the employee says yes, the next question you ask is “what’s a safe direction?” That gives the employee the ability to tell you where it’s safe to point and dry fire the gun. But that’s it, that is the only time you get to touch the trigger.

If you keep your finger out of the trigger guard at all times, and practice the above safety considerations, you’ll definitely impress the employees at the gun store.