gaseousclay said:
So how many of you prefer a safety over no safety on your pistol?
Disclaimer: Although I speak with people who train others and people who are very interested in hand-to-hand martial arts, and I respect the experiences that lead those people to those opinions, theirs is not my interest or experience.
The question above seems to arise out of Glock use. Before that when I talked to pistol shooters there were revolver guys and 1911 guys. Revolver guys didn't have a safety lock, but a long pull 12 pound double action trigger seemed to provide sufficient mechanical safety. A 1911 had a great safety lock, and 1911 guys all used them, because they were easy to use and the trigger was light enough that holstering or carrying a cocked 1911 safety off sounds like a recipe for injury.
I was OK with both in concept, though I've never really warmed to revolvers.
Then about 30 years ago, someone hands me a Glock. I have never been so profoundly uncomfortable with a pistol in my hand. A five to seven pound trigger with short travel and no safety lock struck me as a broken 1911.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago, and I have people telling me how foolish it is to have a thumb safety because "that's going to get you killed in a fight" and how I should appendix carry so if I'm on the ground grappling, I can get to it more readily. Whether it's age or a life not geared toward physical resolution of difficulties, I can't make the jump to an unlocked firearm pointed at parts I don't want to destroy.
In my opinion, a pistol with a nice trigger deserves a mechanically nice safety lock, easy to use in both directions. If the priority were on pistol use during a wrestling match, DAO or DA/DS might be an option.
Whichever option I chose for defense, I would want that to be the only format I used. Just as I wouldn't hop into a right hand drive car on Mondays and Thursdays and drive on the left hand side of the road, then use a left hand drive car and drive on the right side of the road the other days, I wouldn't tamper with the automaticity that accompanies proficiency with a single format.
I love the range of choice and value the modern market offers. At some point, one has to be comfortable enough with his own choice to give it his focus and develop it.