I spent the majority of my adult career working in various gun shops, so I have both considerable experience and a certain level of defensive bias. Everywhere I worked, we had an institutional requisite for absolute safe gun handling. Not gonna say we didn't have the occasional lapse in behavior, especially among the younger employees, but by far the most egregious behavior came from customers. My personal policy was always to verify that every gun was unloaded any time I laid hands on it, including taking it from a display case/rack, or receiving it back from a customer. I did the check in an obvious manner, to demonstrate that I was taking safety seriously and as a sort of passive "teaching moment." Same thing with avoiding the sweep. Finger off trigger, and manipulate the muzzle in an obvious arc away from everyone in the place.
A couple things regarding that picture of the tethered handgun display. While it may be convenient for customers to examine the inventory, I see an opportunity for any whack-job who comes along to slip in a live round undetected, or a less-than-honest person to slip an expensive magazine into a pocket. I'd much prefer to keep an attentive eye on anyone handling the inventory. Also, does it bother anyone else to see all those cocked hammers on the display guns? Looking into a display case and seeing a 1911 displayed with the hammer back has always been a pet peeve of mine.
