[Newton]

This months copy of Combat Handguns cites a case involving a P35 that had its mag safety removed.

The gun was owned by an individual who caused an accidental death by discharging a Colt 1911 in his office. The BHP was in his car at the time but was found by the police during a search. The safety removal was used succesfully by the prosecution as an indicator of a disregard for safety and the individual was found guilty of manslaughter.

Suddenly my "perfect" HP seems like jailbait.

Anyone got a disconnector set they don't need :(

Newton

[hondo68]

Undoubtedly there was more involved in the conviction than a BHP w/o mag safety, that was not even involved in the incident. I'm keeping my disconnector set on the off chance that I may become as paranoid as you one day. :what:

Which banana republic was this case tried in?

[Backwoods]

The disconnector has been out of my P35 for 30 years. But I've still got the pieces and even know exactly where they are! No plans to reinstall them at this time either.

Don in Ohio

[Newton]

It was one of Ayoob's tales, I'm not sure which state it was in, maybe I should buy one of these magazines some day ;)

Most everyone removes thier mag safety, guess we're all accidents waiting to happen.

Newton

[DeltaElite]

I bought it that way, I didn't know. :D

[Ed Brunner]

Doesn't pass the smell test.

[Nightcrawler]

Um, the guy killed another person with his 1911. He IS guilty of manslaughter. Same thing if I were accidentally run somebody over with my car...I'd go to jail.

[Newton]

The BHP in question was purchased used and already had the mag disconnector removed, so the "it was already that way" claim didn't hold any water. The guy actually accepted reduced manslaughter or some such charge on a plea bargain, for what reason I don't know.

The whole point of the entire series of cases that Ayoob quoted was that the tampering with, or removal of ANY safety device is a bad idea for purely legal reasons.

This was a cited case, it most definitely is NOT an urban legend.

Newton

[DeltaElite]

I tend to agree, don't mess with the built in safety devices, lest some legal trickster uses it against you.

[boing]

Back when I read gun rags, Ayoob had a multi-page article citing over a dozen cases of accidental/negligent discharge. He used them to hawk the virtues of the SigPro line, as if it's DA first shot was a revolution in gun design and contemporary safety awareness.

Bunk.

Before I accepted his assertions at face value, I would have to see that the accused would have been found not guilty if it weren't for the removal of the mag safety. I suspect the guy would have been convicted either way.

Did any of the jurors come out after the trial and say "The removal of the safety device by the defendant swayed our judgement in this case"? It's otherwise impossible to see into the mind of a juror.

Assuming they have one. :)

[Newton]

There just wasn't that level of detail in the case report.

Ayoob's point was that the slimeball DA attempted to use the magazine disconnector issue as evidence against the defendant, however unjustifiably.

I agree that a case that was lost solely or partially due to the use of a BHP modified in this way would be far more significant but I am not aware of any.

For the case in point however I suppose the question is, is Ayoob right or wrong in his assertion that a stock weapon should never be modified in such a way, regardless of legal precedents.

Newton

[cratz2]

But he discriminates equally. He also touts the 1911, Beretta and S&W auto designs because they have manual safeties and if an officer was to lose his gun, that manual safety addes 2-5 seconds to the amount of time he (or she) has to respond to the threat and he specifically sites that this is a specific weakness of the Glock and SIG designs.

Overall, there's a lot worse people to read than Massad, in my opinion anyway.

[Newton]

That's surprising as I'm sure he carries one of the high class 1911 types when off duty, in condition 1.

His house gun is a Beretta 92 with a 30 round magazine.

Duty gun is a Ruger P90 loaded with 230 grain Hydrashoks.

Newton