What do you consider a safety??
Specific to handguns, we hear a lot of terms thrown about, safety, active safety, passive safety, manual safety, safety feature, safety lock, and probably some others I can't think of right now...
I make a distinction between a safety and a safety feature.
To me, a safety is a mechanical switch, button, lever etc that must be manually applied (ON), and manually removed (OFF) to allow the gun to fire by pulling the trigger. I believe these are also referred to as active safeties, because you must actively turn them on and they stay on until you turn them off and it requires a separate, specific manual action to change from on to off.
One of the things a safety does is to not only prevent accidental discharge, but also prevents intentional firing of the gun. In other words, with the safety on, deliberately pulling the trigger will not fire the gun.
A disconnector is not, to me, a safety, it is a safety feature.
I consider the grip safety to be a safety feature. They put themselves "on" and are turned off by gripping the gun correctly.
Now, obviously, if you are looking to order a part, you must use the name the maker gives it, but for purposes of casual conversation, how do you define "the safety"??
Specific to handguns, we hear a lot of terms thrown about, safety, active safety, passive safety, manual safety, safety feature, safety lock, and probably some others I can't think of right now...
I make a distinction between a safety and a safety feature.
To me, a safety is a mechanical switch, button, lever etc that must be manually applied (ON), and manually removed (OFF) to allow the gun to fire by pulling the trigger. I believe these are also referred to as active safeties, because you must actively turn them on and they stay on until you turn them off and it requires a separate, specific manual action to change from on to off.
One of the things a safety does is to not only prevent accidental discharge, but also prevents intentional firing of the gun. In other words, with the safety on, deliberately pulling the trigger will not fire the gun.
A disconnector is not, to me, a safety, it is a safety feature.
I consider the grip safety to be a safety feature. They put themselves "on" and are turned off by gripping the gun correctly.
Now, obviously, if you are looking to order a part, you must use the name the maker gives it, but for purposes of casual conversation, how do you define "the safety"??