Safety or no safety?

Given my druthers and if available, I prefer a frame mounted thumb safety.

Howland937 said:

Of the people here arguing one way or the other, do any of you hunt? If so, how do you carry your rifle/shotgun on a stalk or in the field after rabbits or pheasants?

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None of my hunting rifles or shotguns have DA/DAO (striker fired pistols being DAO, technically) fire controls which could be safely carried without a manual safety, so the point is moot. Passive safety pistols can be safely carried with a round in the chamber and no manual safety. A loaded and cocked bolt action rifle or shotgun with a single action trigger cannot be carried safely without a manual safety. The analogy isn’t apt.

Varminterror said:

None of my hunting rifles or shotguns have DA/DAO (striker fired pistols being DAO, technically) fire controls which could be safely carried without a manual safety, so the point is moot. Passive safety pistols can be safely carried with a round in the chamber and no manual safety. A loaded and cocked bolt action rifle or shotgun with a single action trigger cannot be carried safely without a manual safety. The analogy isn’t apt.

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I agree with that, except I wasn't I wasn't trying to get into the safe/unsafe aspect so much. My question was more pointed toward whether a manual safety really is too much to be bothered with.

ETA...not in the debate of what's more or less safe. If lack of a manual safety was inherently unsafe, someone's attorney woulda made them a millionaire by now and Glock would be going the way of Remington.

This dead horse is down to being about a inch thick from all the beating it's taken.

Being old, crotchety, and set in my ways my semi-auto pistols have manual safeties. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind and it wouldn't do any good if I wanted to. Carry what you wish and I'll do the same. As long as we all enjoy guns it's good.

finger off the trigger!

murf

The new S&W M&P Shield 9mm EZ is available with and without thumb safety. I asked the gun counter guy at Academy why it is so hard to find the without- version in gun shops. He told me that they expect most buyers of the EZ to be new or first-time gun buyers, and they want those relatively untrained folks to walk out with what will be the safer choice for their use.
I had not thought about that aspect, but it kinda made sense to me.