In the past , when hunting certain areas with higher grizzly numbers , camp will have a firearm that everyone is aware of and can grab in a hurry if needed. Usually a 12 gauge with slugs and 00 buck shot alternated in the mag tube. It will be set in a safe but accessable location , loaded but not chambered. Otherwise, the no loaded guns in camp thing is just kind of a given that responsible folks do in good practice. Also treating every firearm as if it's loaded even when you know it's not or assume it's not.
Never had a safety issue with firearms in camp while on hunting trips over the years but on two occasions hunters I was with could have killed me.
The first was a moose hunt but we had spotted a big black bear I decided to take. It was a decent shot in a small bowl and as I got set up and was about to squeeze the trigger I hear a rifle shot over my head. The dumb@ss I was hunting with got out and shot at the bear over the hood of my vehicle and directly over my kneeled position. If I had stood up in that instant I would have had my head taken off. He missed the bear entirely and I didn't get a shot in the end. Had to go down there and check for blood for an hour or so just in case he did hit it. Needless to say, I never hunted with him again. The other dumb@ss I took on his first real hunt for moose, and the reason for my zero tolerance for drunks. He was supposed to meet me at a set time and place after the morning hunt. I was calling moose along a cut line and had a bull responding. Well as I'm working this bull I hear an atv racing down the roads.... I wondered "what moron is high speed burning around the roads while hunting? " The machine got closer and then it shut off..... moments later 2 gunshots real close and I swear I heard those bullets going over my head danger close. It turns out he showed up an hour early, high speed burned his whole way up the grown in trail up the hillside and to the spot he was to meet me. Well he got there and a cow was standing on the trail at the edge of the cut block..... then out stepped the bull. He shot it at about 50 feet with his 308 norma mag. I was directly in line with his fire , not even 75 yards on the other side of that bull. I saw the cow step out and stand there for minutes as he raced his way up the mountain. I was sighting on the bull as he stepped out but the shots came before I was ready to squeeze the trigger. He knew I was there and where I would be..... if he had let the bull walk 10 or 15 feet, heck even 10 yards it would have been a safe shot. Anyways, the guy got so drunk the rest of the trip... I was pissed he shot the bull I had worked all morning and pissed he almost shot me in the process..... I did get a bull myself on the 5th day of that hunt so at least I felt better about that. Since that hunt...... no more alcoholics in my hunting crew. LOL