pickpocket:
One of the fundamental rules of gun safety is expressed two different ways. I'm an NRA instructor, so the NRA wording is most familiar to me: "Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction." I don't care how "professional" someone is. I'm not a safe direction. My training partner is not a safe direction. The NRA safety rule does not read "Always keep a
loaded gun pointed in a safe direction." Just because a gun is unloaded doesn't mean you can point it in an unsafe direction.
Jeff Cooper uses a slightly different wording for the same idea: "Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy." I am not willing to destroy training partner. He or she better not be willing to destroy me.
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Please understand, I'm not advocating unsafe range practices...quite the contrary...a large part of my training focuses on responsible and safe practices.
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Either we disagree or I am misunderstanding you. If you are suggesting that it is ok in training to use unloaded real guns and point them at each other (even after checking them), then I believe you are indeed advocating an unsafe range practice.
People make mistakes. Even professional people make mistakes. If your training involves pointing real guns at people, then a single mistake can take someones life. This has happened in the past and will continue to happen in the future. Even to "professionals." Because people mess up. Yes, you can hold that person accountable for messing up, but that's going to be cold comfort for the widow.
And the thing is, there's no need to take that risk. You can achieve the same quality of training with airsoft or dedicated simunition guns.