In all this dancing about, I think we missed (at least) one important point.
The manual safety also works when the gun is not in your hand.
and, the safety works until you disengage it, when it is in your hand.
I know the odds are ultra slim, and they have thrown them off mountains and drug them for miles behind trucks, but there can be no denying that, with a trigger tab type "safety" if something pushes against the trigger in just the right spot, the gun will fire. After all, that is what it is made to do!
Every other safety system or added safety system decreases the possibility of this happening. With a grip safety, TWO actions have to happen, and, in opposite directions. With a grip safety and a manual safety THREE separate independent things have to happen in order for the gun to fire.
As a bit of a side note, adding up the time the major training academies have been teaching the 1911 is a bit of a red herring. The US military has WAY more time teaching the 1911, if you add it up the same way.
And yet, they teach different things. They can't both be right, can they???
Well, the fact is, they can be, and they are.
Professional civilian training is aimed at what is best for you, in a defense situation. Military training is aimed at what is best for the military, in every situation.
Where does the necessity of a manual safety come in when your follow the military "empty chamber" rule? It does not.
And yet, the military demanded a manual safety on the 1911.
Perhaps, because, even back then, they recognized that no matter how you train people, a significant percentage are going to do what they think is best for them at the time, OR they are going to unconsciously violate their training. Either way, no training is going to cover 100% of the people, 100% of the time.
For those who believe that the trigger tab is enough, I won't argue with you, but I suggest you look for the video (which should now be a textbook example)
where an undercover cop, giving a talk to young schoolchildren utter the famous words,
"I am the only one in this room capably of handling the Glock Fou-Tay", and immediately afterwards, shoots himself in the leg.
Operator error? absolutely. And thanks to the Glock, he only had to do one thing wrong, not two, or more.
EVERYTHING is safe, PROVIDED one adheres to its specific manual of arms.
I think a manual safety can be a most useful thing, for those times when one does not.
Also, do people NOT take NRA hunter safety courses anymore?? Or is it that people think they are ONLY for hunters???
Hunter Safety covers basic gun safety, first, and foremost. The hunting part builds on that.
And one of the basic lessons of Hunter Safety is to NEVER trust a mechanical safety. Any mechanical device can, and will fail. Always, always ALWAYS handle firearms as if the safety does not work, and you will be safe, if it doesn't work, or if it does.