Jim March
Member
This is in some ways a post to my blog; I'm going to describe why SB489 (passed by the California Senate) is a bad idea, but since it's not a "political process thing" I'm going to write it here and then link to it from my blog. People can then comment here, or there, as desired.
I've got more comments on SB489 at the blog: http://capitoltruth.blog-city.com
The bill requires that all semi-auto handguns sold after a certain point will be declared "unsafe" even if they pass the stringent tests already in place, if they lack either a "magazine disconnect safety" or a "loaded chamber indicator".
A mag disconnect safety means that when you pull the magazine out of the gun, the trigger is locked. It's not unheard of for an ignorant moron to handle a slidegun, pull the mag, assume he's "unloaded it" and crank one off because he didn't know about the round "up the spout" (in the barrel, ready to fire). A semi-auto with a 10rd mag can actually load 11 rounds.
So what's wrong with the disconnector?
A lot.
1) It screws up the trigger feel. This effect varies by gun make and model; with the older pattern Browning Hi-Power the difference was extreme. Upshot: the California legislature has just mandated that all affected slideguns be rendered slightly less accurate.
2) For a cop in a gunfight, this "safety" can be a problem.
OK, you've got some lunatic across the street just came out of a bank and he's decided he's got too much ammo on his person. So he's been sending some your way, and you're been returning the favor. You've cranked off a bunch of shots, and as usual you have no idea how many. You look at the gun, and the slide isn't locked back so you haven't run it completely dry - at a minimum, you've got an empty mag and one up the pipe, maybe a few in the mag too.
What you do next is a "tactical reload". You keep pointing the gun downrange, you grab a fresh mag off your belt with your off-hand, bring it up to the gun, eject the mag that's in there and slap the full one in.
During the transition, you've still got a gun - it may only be a one-shot, but hey, it's a gunfight, at least ya got a gun!
With the mag disconnect "safety", you guessed it, that cop's gun is taken away from him during that transition. Worse, if something goes wrong and the new mag won't go in for some reason, you don't have a gun at all.
Not good.
3) If you accidentally release or even loosen the magazine through an improper grip (the release button is on the gun's handle) you've just "turned off" your gun. At the wrong moment, that could get a cop (or any other legitimate gun owner) killed.
4) The disconnector isn't all that reliable. Basically, with the mag out, the trigger will feel "stuck", or "wrong". What is the basic human response to something being STUCK!? Yup. Yank on the sumbich.
The human trigger finger can deliver quite a serious load on that tiny piece of metal blocking the trigger. "Safety" or not, it's NOT safe to have a loaded gun in your hand and crank a round off in a random direction, or even try to, and it never will be. That's why education is more critical than "mandated mechanics".
5) A mag disconnector is one more mechanical linkage in the gun that can go wrong. A gun is subject to incredible stress and pounding; the "KISS principle" applies (Keep It Simple Stupid).
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Full disclosure: there ARE proponents of this feature for police weapons. The counter-argument to the above is that in a close-range grapple, the cop has the option of "turning off the gun" before a stronger perp gets it away from them.
However, the "grapple problem" is usually better solved with retension holsters (holsters where the gun can only be drawn in a specific forward direction a certain way, rather than from the rear or side) and/or training, per most police firearms instructors.
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Loaded chamber indicators:
The arguments against are if anything much more solid than for mag disconnectors:
1) The "indicator" is generally pretty small. They vary significantly in size, shape and location on each semi-auto gun, so you'd have to be familiar with the particular gun to even know whether or not the "round is in the pipe". The clueless newbie picking up the gun and dropping the mag to "unload it" isn't going to see or notice the "indicator"...not unless somebody's planning a big red "I'm loaded!" flag popping out the side, with a small electronic voice chirping out "HE AIN'T BLUFFIN' FOOL!"?
2) Worse, the indicator is right next to the firing chamber and depending on the type, can be screwed up by the hot gasses and such flying out of same.
3) There is NO possible safe substitute for racking the slide back and LOOKING, for yourself, to see if there's a round in the firing chamber.
Even then, you still assume you briefly went blind and missed spotting the back of a round in there! You handle it with the muzzle pointed away from people, you keep your finger off the trigger, etc.
Gun safety really isn't that difficult. In fact, when done right, you've got to make *multiple* screwups to have a real disaster on your hands - finger off trigger violation PLUS pointing it at somebody, fr'instance.
Example: a guy I know had a 22cal slidegun in his garage he was about to clean. So he checks the loaded state, and as the next step he had to pull the trigger to drop the hammer - you have to do that before taking it apart with that and most other models. Well, he knew that one wall of his garage faced a dirt hill, so as per his usual practice he pointed it that way and pulled the trigger.
Sure enough...
However, because he didn't violate the "safe muzzle direction" rule, the only problems from this "tragic gun accident" was the need for a bit of spackle and about an hour for the ringing in his ears to stop.
(Gunsmiths and others that do this day in, day out will set up a 5gal bucket of sand right in the shop, and drop hammer while pointing straight down into that. Also common practice around police and military armories.)
I've got more comments on SB489 at the blog: http://capitoltruth.blog-city.com
The bill requires that all semi-auto handguns sold after a certain point will be declared "unsafe" even if they pass the stringent tests already in place, if they lack either a "magazine disconnect safety" or a "loaded chamber indicator".
A mag disconnect safety means that when you pull the magazine out of the gun, the trigger is locked. It's not unheard of for an ignorant moron to handle a slidegun, pull the mag, assume he's "unloaded it" and crank one off because he didn't know about the round "up the spout" (in the barrel, ready to fire). A semi-auto with a 10rd mag can actually load 11 rounds.
So what's wrong with the disconnector?
A lot.
1) It screws up the trigger feel. This effect varies by gun make and model; with the older pattern Browning Hi-Power the difference was extreme. Upshot: the California legislature has just mandated that all affected slideguns be rendered slightly less accurate.
2) For a cop in a gunfight, this "safety" can be a problem.
OK, you've got some lunatic across the street just came out of a bank and he's decided he's got too much ammo on his person. So he's been sending some your way, and you're been returning the favor. You've cranked off a bunch of shots, and as usual you have no idea how many. You look at the gun, and the slide isn't locked back so you haven't run it completely dry - at a minimum, you've got an empty mag and one up the pipe, maybe a few in the mag too.
What you do next is a "tactical reload". You keep pointing the gun downrange, you grab a fresh mag off your belt with your off-hand, bring it up to the gun, eject the mag that's in there and slap the full one in.
During the transition, you've still got a gun - it may only be a one-shot, but hey, it's a gunfight, at least ya got a gun!
With the mag disconnect "safety", you guessed it, that cop's gun is taken away from him during that transition. Worse, if something goes wrong and the new mag won't go in for some reason, you don't have a gun at all.
Not good.
3) If you accidentally release or even loosen the magazine through an improper grip (the release button is on the gun's handle) you've just "turned off" your gun. At the wrong moment, that could get a cop (or any other legitimate gun owner) killed.
4) The disconnector isn't all that reliable. Basically, with the mag out, the trigger will feel "stuck", or "wrong". What is the basic human response to something being STUCK!? Yup. Yank on the sumbich.
The human trigger finger can deliver quite a serious load on that tiny piece of metal blocking the trigger. "Safety" or not, it's NOT safe to have a loaded gun in your hand and crank a round off in a random direction, or even try to, and it never will be. That's why education is more critical than "mandated mechanics".
5) A mag disconnector is one more mechanical linkage in the gun that can go wrong. A gun is subject to incredible stress and pounding; the "KISS principle" applies (Keep It Simple Stupid).
----------------
Full disclosure: there ARE proponents of this feature for police weapons. The counter-argument to the above is that in a close-range grapple, the cop has the option of "turning off the gun" before a stronger perp gets it away from them.
However, the "grapple problem" is usually better solved with retension holsters (holsters where the gun can only be drawn in a specific forward direction a certain way, rather than from the rear or side) and/or training, per most police firearms instructors.
-----------------
Loaded chamber indicators:
The arguments against are if anything much more solid than for mag disconnectors:
1) The "indicator" is generally pretty small. They vary significantly in size, shape and location on each semi-auto gun, so you'd have to be familiar with the particular gun to even know whether or not the "round is in the pipe". The clueless newbie picking up the gun and dropping the mag to "unload it" isn't going to see or notice the "indicator"...not unless somebody's planning a big red "I'm loaded!" flag popping out the side, with a small electronic voice chirping out "HE AIN'T BLUFFIN' FOOL!"?
2) Worse, the indicator is right next to the firing chamber and depending on the type, can be screwed up by the hot gasses and such flying out of same.
3) There is NO possible safe substitute for racking the slide back and LOOKING, for yourself, to see if there's a round in the firing chamber.
Even then, you still assume you briefly went blind and missed spotting the back of a round in there! You handle it with the muzzle pointed away from people, you keep your finger off the trigger, etc.
Gun safety really isn't that difficult. In fact, when done right, you've got to make *multiple* screwups to have a real disaster on your hands - finger off trigger violation PLUS pointing it at somebody, fr'instance.
Example: a guy I know had a 22cal slidegun in his garage he was about to clean. So he checks the loaded state, and as the next step he had to pull the trigger to drop the hammer - you have to do that before taking it apart with that and most other models. Well, he knew that one wall of his garage faced a dirt hill, so as per his usual practice he pointed it that way and pulled the trigger.
Sure enough...
However, because he didn't violate the "safe muzzle direction" rule, the only problems from this "tragic gun accident" was the need for a bit of spackle and about an hour for the ringing in his ears to stop.
(Gunsmiths and others that do this day in, day out will set up a 5gal bucket of sand right in the shop, and drop hammer while pointing straight down into that. Also common practice around police and military armories.)
