observations from 3 days of shooting training

[Rob Pincus]

Are your observations in reference to safeties based on real world, pointing guns at bad guys who can kill you experiences or from training observations on the range?

My observations are from training. I do have several anecdotal references to DA/SA guns being re-holstered in SA mode. There have been citings of single action guns being left on safe. There are a few dash camera videos of DA/SA guns being fired negligently after an incident when the guns should have been back in DA mode. As you can imagine, there aren't a lot of opportunities to collect such data. Seeing it happen again and again on training ranges (when people are supposed to be in more control, less fear and better able to perform skills) is pretty significant.

Are these your personal observations or information you have obtained from other sources?

I was asked for my opinion based on my observations, which is what I provided.

Have ever been in the situation of pointing a firearm (not airsoft, paintball or Simunitions) at another person and failing to disengage the safety?

That is an incomplete sentence, but if you are asking if I have ever been in those situations, the answer would be "no". I never had to point a single action pistol at anyone when I was carrying one. I never carried my issued Beretta 92 with the safety on and (thankfully) never had to fire it any of the times it was presented, so I had no opportunity to fail to use the de-cocker. Similarly, I've never had to present any other DA/SA firearm. You didn't ask, but I also never negligently discharged a Glock or similar pistol when presented during an incident.

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More importantly, the lack of "hey look this happened!" examples, even a dozen of which would be a very small percentage, doesn't negate the validity of the argument for simplicity and efficiency. Warriors "got it done" with muzzle loaders for over a century, but that didn't stop the evolution to modern firearms. No doubt, there were plenty of guys arguing against them along the way...
Removing the opportunity to leave the safety on when it needs to be off guarantees that it can't get a good guy killed. Conversely, the lack of a safety on dozens of modern firearms (and hundreds of double action revolver models) does not guarantee that they will be fired inadvertently.

-RJP


Respectful Irreverence