Who out there has been "saved" by a safety mechanism on their gun?
- Thread starter m1magn87
- Start date
Lots
My guess is that lots of people have been. I had a friend who taught himself how to hunt, shoot, etc. He said the first time he ever went deer hunting he was pulling his gun into position with his finger on the trigger and it went off way before he was on his target. He's a smart guy, not a risk taker and mostly sensible. But he never had the safety between the ears because he never had anyone teach him safety.
He's learned safety and I totally trust hunting and shooting with him or he wouldn't be a friend!
There are a lot of gang bangers out there, some on this site. Many of these new tough guys don't know the first thing about guns. Some shoot themselves foolishly. I'm just guessing that a lot more would do the same if safeties didn't exist.
I think everyone will agree that the handler is in charge of safety, not some little metal switch. But that's just my point. There are a lot of people out there who don't know safety and would probably have hurt someone if it weren't for safeties.
My guess is that lots of people have been. I had a friend who taught himself how to hunt, shoot, etc. He said the first time he ever went deer hunting he was pulling his gun into position with his finger on the trigger and it went off way before he was on his target. He's a smart guy, not a risk taker and mostly sensible. But he never had the safety between the ears because he never had anyone teach him safety.
He's learned safety and I totally trust hunting and shooting with him or he wouldn't be a friend!
There are a lot of gang bangers out there, some on this site. Many of these new tough guys don't know the first thing about guns. Some shoot themselves foolishly. I'm just guessing that a lot more would do the same if safeties didn't exist.
I think everyone will agree that the handler is in charge of safety, not some little metal switch. But that's just my point. There are a lot of people out there who don't know safety and would probably have hurt someone if it weren't for safeties.
ursavus.elemensis
New member
My gun has a safety called a trigger. The operator of the gun keeps his fingers away from the trigger and the gun remains perfectly safe and does not fire itself at unintended targets. When the operator wants the gun to fire, he/she/it puts his/her/its finger in the trigger guard and pulls the trigger. Gun goes bang. Wow. Safe, totally, until the operator puts finger onto trigger. What a concept. ???
Directed too those that feel the only safety needed is the one between their ears...I have been wanting to ask this for awile.
There is a saying in the United States Military that goes..."one is none, and two is one."
Which refers to redunency within operating systems which a firearm's physical safety mechanism qualifies as.
If your brain is one then you have none. How do you then make you firearm safe? Hopefully you see that it is not no matter how much the thing between your ears believes it to be.
There is a saying in the United States Military that goes..."one is none, and two is one."
Which refers to redunency within operating systems which a firearm's physical safety mechanism qualifies as.
If your brain is one then you have none. How do you then make you firearm safe? Hopefully you see that it is not no matter how much the thing between your ears believes it to be.
Agree it is hard to prove something that never happens. That said, Plaxico Burress would still be a starting NFL star with the Giants (or somewhere else) if he didn't carry a un-safed loaded weapon in the waistband of his dress pants into a nightclub one evening. And in a city where no law abiding private citizen may carry anything more deadly than a ball point pen. "Car jack me at gunpoint in NYC and I'm going to write you a really nasty note!"
In Plax's case, clearly, no safety between the ears. Was there some issue with the mechanical safety here, or was he really that dumb? Perhaps he adjusted the ride of a Glock in his waistband by pulling the trigger. Anyone know details of this incident?
I had the hardest time getting comfortable CCW a SA semiauto "cocked and locked". There is the thought that a safety can fail, but the statistical possibility that two safeties could fail at the same time? Too small to worry about I believe...
Kreyzhorse
New member
I can't think of a single instance where I said "Gee, that safety really saved me." In my opinion, the "safety" is the one between your ears. Use it and follow safe gun handling procedures at all times.
Double Naught Spy
New member
No offense, but that safety seems to fail a lot based on just the news stories posted here at TFL.
Superhouse 15
New member
I've seen guns that were worn or "gunsmithed" that had hammers follow the slides down. The half-cock notch keeps it from firing. Does that count?
ChicagoTex
Moderator
Yeah, he stuck a Glock in his pants mexican-carry style (i.e. no holster), got trashed all night long, and when the Glock slid below his beltline and down his pants, he went to catch it: BOOM!
No holster, drunk, and tried to catch a loaded weapon in (more or less) midair. You'd have to be crazy to blame it on the Glock.
If Plaxico had been carrying a 1911 with it cocked and locked instead of a Glock then when he grabbed the trigger it probably would not have gone off. In that case we not he would have never known if the safeties on the 1911 had saved him or not. He probably would have assumed that he grabbed it safely without pulling the trigger. In fact we would probably never have heard about it. In his case the main safety failed miserably as well as the others and there was no back-up manual safety on the gun. The number one safety on any gun is between your ears but to say that is an adequate safety and no other is needed it cleary asking for trouble. The Glock does have several other "safety" devices but in Plaxico's case he overrode all of them. With that said I do carry a revolver or P3AT at times but never Mexican style.
Willie Lowman
New member
I had a safety save someone else's life once.
This isn't a handgun story but that switch kept someone from getting shot.
I was hunting deer about 10 years ago on my Grandma's property. As I approached the "sweet spot" of the property I saw something that looked like a deer in the dim morning light. I dropped to one knee and took careful aim at what I thought was the vitals area of my soon to be dinner. As I pushed off the safety on my 870 the guy stood up. He was about 75 yards away and dressed entirely in Carhardts. No orange vest. On property that he did not have permission to be on.
Were it not for the second that it took me to take the safety off, I would have put a 1oz slug right through that guy.
That experience put a powerful concept of "Know your target" in me.
This isn't a handgun story but that switch kept someone from getting shot.
I was hunting deer about 10 years ago on my Grandma's property. As I approached the "sweet spot" of the property I saw something that looked like a deer in the dim morning light. I dropped to one knee and took careful aim at what I thought was the vitals area of my soon to be dinner. As I pushed off the safety on my 870 the guy stood up. He was about 75 yards away and dressed entirely in Carhardts. No orange vest. On property that he did not have permission to be on.
Were it not for the second that it took me to take the safety off, I would have put a 1oz slug right through that guy.
That experience put a powerful concept of "Know your target" in me.
chris in va
New member
Oh sure. I dropped my CZ 75BD in the ice cream aisle at the local grocery store. If it didn't have the half-cock setting or firing pin safety, things could have been interesting.
True enough, but the point of the earlier post was that if Burress had handled the gun with even a modicum of good sense, like carrying it in a holster that guarded the trigger (we are talking "duh" stuff here), it wouldn't have gone off either. Who is to say that he would have locked a 1911 if he was giving that little thought to the weapon?
Could happen. The number of lives that have been lost by the extra fraction of a second required to disengage a safety are probably few, but they are just as immeasurable in number as those saved by a safety. Which number is greater? Impossible to tell by any means besides speculation, probably.
carprivershooter
New member
safety
my traning is only part of my safety. I was trained to keep the safety on until the weapon is in firing postion, safety disengaged finger out of the trigger guard until you have a target, have identifed your target. But we must remember the no amount of traning or practice or use of a saferty device is going to work unless we use the material between our ears.
It all has to work together all the time.
my traning is only part of my safety. I was trained to keep the safety on until the weapon is in firing postion, safety disengaged finger out of the trigger guard until you have a target, have identifed your target. But we must remember the no amount of traning or practice or use of a saferty device is going to work unless we use the material between our ears.
It all has to work together all the time.
Kreyzhorse
New member
There is no doubt, but a mechanical safety won't protect people from themselves.
Actually I consider a holster a safety device so if he had been using a holster he would have had and additional safety and would have saved him. If he had been carrying the 1911 cocked but not locked the grip safety may have save him but more than likely have blown his leg off before getting so drunk.
bigger hammer
New member
About 30 years ago a friend that I worked with went to another police department. They carried 1911's, we carried .38 revolvers. He got a call of a disturbance in a bar and went in as soon as he got there, not waiting for his backup. Yes, I know and now, so does he.
As soon as he cleared the door a drunk him in the back of the head with a bottle, knocking him unconscious. He regained consciousness with the drunk sitting on his chest, trying with both hands to pull the trigger of my friend's gun with it pointed at him, a few inches from his face. He was squeezing the trigger so hard that his hands were shaking with the effort.
As soon as he came to enough he smacked the guy on the side of his head and took him into custody. If he'd have made the same mistake (entering the bar alone) before he'd switched departments, he'd be dead now.
Ever since then I've thought that the police should carry a gun that has a manual safety. Many police officers who are shot are shot with there own guns. Sure there are some who will know how to release it, but if it just gives the officer a one second delay . . .
As soon as he cleared the door a drunk him in the back of the head with a bottle, knocking him unconscious. He regained consciousness with the drunk sitting on his chest, trying with both hands to pull the trigger of my friend's gun with it pointed at him, a few inches from his face. He was squeezing the trigger so hard that his hands were shaking with the effort.
As soon as he came to enough he smacked the guy on the side of his head and took him into custody. If he'd have made the same mistake (entering the bar alone) before he'd switched departments, he'd be dead now.
Ever since then I've thought that the police should carry a gun that has a manual safety. Many police officers who are shot are shot with there own guns. Sure there are some who will know how to release it, but if it just gives the officer a one second delay . . .