Who out there has been "saved" by a safety mechanism on their gun?

Could have shot my foot off

Shooters:
I was dove hunting with my 12 ga. semi auto. In between shots I routinely put the safety on. The three legged stool I was sitting on collapsed. As I fell backward the muzzle of my gun came in full contact with the top of my right foot, and my finger found its way into the trigger guard. The safety saved my foot. So did my routine practice.

Live well, be safe.

Prof Young
 
I use my safeties when hunting, walkling with a loaded weapon off safe just isnt a good idea as I am not in any war.
 
I very well may be talking to you because of the safety system on Glock handguns.

I don't like Glocks; I even sold this handgun (for unrelated reasons) a couple years after this incident. But I am grateful to the design.

I was hiking and had an uncomfortable holster on. After about 5 miles I shifted the Glock 21 out of the holster, took the holster off and stowed it in my pack. I then put the gun into the padded waistbelt of my backpack, cross-draw mexican style.

After another 1/2 mile or so, I needed to tie a shoe lace that came loose. I stopped and knelt over a large rock with one foot up on it. The pistol tumbled out of the waistbelt, end over end. I was smart enough to at least know not to try and catch it... this could have ended very differently if my finger brushed the trigger while it fell. But, the gun tumbled end over end until the back end where the striker was smacked against the rock, and I could see the copper jacket of the bullet in the pipe as I stared straight down it.

Needless to say, I finished tying my shoe and then pulled the ill-fitting holster from the pack again and continued to use it despite the discomfort.

A 1911 or other exposed hammer automatic in SA mode (or even DA mode) might have set that cartridge off and put a bullet in my eye.

Not saying that I don't trust 1911's, BHP's, CZ's and such; just saying I don't trust bad holsters anymore. And... my preferred gun to carry in the woods is a DA revolver with a transfer bar or some other form of trigger drop safety.

This was a failure of the safety in my brain leading to the use of a Glock safety that saved me from harm or death.
 
this is not handgun related but i will post it anyway..

One of the local hunters did put a loaded shotgun in his car and went home, during the trip it discarded. The load of #6 shots was stopped by the back of his car seat.
 
this might be a better question: Who out there has been hurt by not having a safety on their gun?
Click to expand...
Any of a large number of police officers who have been relieved of their revolvers and subsequently shot over the years.

On the other side of the argument, doubtless there have also been numerous officers who have been disarmed of their duty pistols and saved by the perps' inability to locate and disengage the safety.
 
Well there's the time I was stealing my wife's ice cream at 3am in the kitchen and she couldn't figure out the safety on the S&W 3rd generation. Other than that can't think of any. I am sure it has gone both ways, there are likely people who didn't survive because they couldn't figure out a safety on a gun.

A magazine safety can go both ways also as well as a manual safety. There have been instances of officers in the process of losing their weapon to a perp and able to release the magazine disabling the weapon.
 
I never really thought about it :confused: because until I am ready to fire the weapon my finger does NOT go in, on or around the trigger. Even when I site in on an item, until ready to fire my finger is off the trigger.

Safety is for storing, carry or anytime not in use. I was taught this tactic by my father, the military and employer. The safety to me is the person carrying the weapon.

Interesting information to see what people think! Great question!
 
Hi, all. While this did not happen to me, this case is well known within the PD I work at and saved a Sgt's life.

The Sgt in question was working a daylight shift and responded to a call of some guys breaking into the coin boxes at a local laundrymat. When he arrived, a scuffle ensued, resulting in one of the perps getting the Sgt's 3rd Gen S&W 5906 out of his holster and grabbing it. The Sgt managed to dump the mag before the perp got total control over it and the Sgt was greeted by the sight of the perp standing over him, pointing the 5906 at his face and repeatedly pulling the trigger. The gun didn't fire because of the magazine safety. Backup arrived and the perp was taken into custody (MUCH worse for wear but luckily without any extra holes in his hide) and subsequently sentenced to a LONG prison sentence.

In this case, the mag safety in the S&W auto saved the Sgt's life, no doubt about it. The Sgt was lucky in that the perp did not have any pressure on the trigger during the disarming attempt, since this will defeat the mag safety on these guns if the pressure occurs before the mag is dumped and is maintained until the trigger is completely pulled. If he had been carrying a Glock or the Beretta 92 he later transitioned to, he would have been a dead man.

While I have no direct evidence, I have read of similar stories with Officers carrying pistols with mag safeties. While I love my personally owned Glock 21 that I carry on duty, I do wish it had a mag safety for just this type of thing. While no safety is foolproof nor should any safety be totally relied on, it's just another layer in gun safety when something like this happens and the added confusion might buy you enough time to pull your backup gun and take care of the bad guy once and for all.

Bub
 
I know of a suicide that was stopped by a magazine disconnect safety

It didn't happen to me, but to another officer and a volunteer officer riding with him, in about 1994 or 95.

They were on patrol at night - I forget exactly what time. They were on the south side access road for I-20 in Pecos, Texas, when they came up on a pick-up parked on the shoulder.

The tail gate was down and a man was sitting on it with a Smith and Wesson semi-auto 9mm pointed at his head under his chin. Natch, they stopped to see what was going on.

The man told them his llife was in ruins and he was totally despondent and determined to commit suicide. All the time, he had the gun pointed at his head.

They talked to this guy for about 30 minutes, trying to talk him down.

The senior officer in this pair is not the most patient guy on the planet. Finally, he told the guy, "I guess you're right. Why don't you just go ahead and shoot yourself?

So the guy pulled the trigger and nothing happened. No BOOM. Both officers rushed the man and took away the FULLY-LOADED pistol.

They found it was a Smith and Wesson with a magazine disconnect safety and the magazine wasn't fully seated.

The next day, the man's mother called the PD wanting to meet the men who saved her son's life. The Chief called in those two officers and she gave them hugs and kisses and thanks.

He should have called in the designers for Smith and Wesson.

100 percent true story.
 
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