I took the required 12 hour course for CHL in Ohio a while back. In the first four hours of the course, the instructor "taught" us basic gun handling and safety skills. He showed us how to load and unload a gun, etc.

Never once did he say "And always inspect the chamber with the magazine ejected to ensure that the gun is unloaded." I was mystified by the omission of this simple and obvious statement of gun safety. Teaching people to use their eyes to ensure a gun is unloaded should be foremost, but for this instructor, it wasn't even worth a mention.

The video of the DEA agent shooting himself with a Glock in front a room full of children (hilariously, *right after* saying he was the only one in the room professional enough to handle the gun) is a failure to follow the statement above. They inspected the chamber, but they did so with the magazine in the gun. As expected, the loaded magazine readily provided a cartridge for the action to stuff into the chamber as soon as the slide was released, and he shot himself.

I not only use my eyes to verify that my gun is unloaded with the magazine ejected, but I have another layer of safety: I cycle the slide at least twice. And then I inspect the chamber and look down the grip (if possible) again.

However, I am human and I make mistakes. Like another poster, I hear about these incidents and think "There but for the grace of God go I."