Sig 290 Safe Carry

It's perfectly safe to carry chambered.

The only way the pistol will fire is if the trigger is pulled. It's no different than carrying a Glock, M&P, D/A revolver, or any of a number of D/A semi autos.

The best safety to use is the one between your ears.

As long as it's in a holster that covers the trigger guard, it's safe. Like many modern handguns without manual safeties, the longer trigger pull is the operational safety (same as revolvers carried for decades by law enforcement, although those triggers were generally heavier).

Modern handguns are also drop-safe due to passive safety mechanisms - trigger blade safeties, firing pin block safeties, etc.

You probably know all this, though. When I first started carrying, I was nervous about this issue as well. For about a month, I carried with a snap cap in the chamber basically to test both the firearm and my gun handling habits. In that trial period, the firing pin never fell & I transitioned to a live round in the chamber.

I recently bought the 290rs, mainly for the reason it is wonderfully safe as a pocket pistol (in a holster of course) due to the long DAO trigger. Since it has a hammer, you can also keep your thumb on it while holstering for an added measure of safety.

I agree with the previous comments. I settled on the 290rs for the same reasons: long smooth dao trigger and tactile hammer. Not to mention a small profile.

I have the 290rs also - that long double action is definitely a safety. As, has been noted - be sure to use a holster.

One time while shooting with my 9 year old daughter, I had her try it empty and she could not pull the trigger.