For those that do not want to carry with a round in the chamber. Why not use a gun with a manual safety?

Posted by HumanAntagonist@reddit | Firearms | View on Reddit | 137 comments

For those that do not want to carry with a round in the chamber. Why not use a gun with a manual safety?

I never really liked carrying with one in the chamber. Mostly because as gun owners, we're more likely to negligently discharge than ever intentionally discharge a firearm. That is until one day( 2 weeks ago lol) I was practicing my draw on my shield plus and failed to rack the slide.

I dont personally think the time it takes to rack a slide really matters. In every self defense situation I've seen you either had enough time to rack the slide or not even enough time to draw at all. Anyways, the fact that I can fail to rack the slide or potentially induce a malfunction in a high stress situation is what got me to always want to carry with one in the chamber. So I went and traded in my shield plus for a similar 9mm with a safety.

Honestly guys, a manual safety that you can operate with one hand is the way to go. Almost every ND I've seen on a video or read about in a post would have been prevented if the gun has one. Sure, if you just follow the 4 rules of gun ownership, you should theoretically not have any issues, but I've seen wild stuff. and most people that ND know and follow those rules. It only takes one slip up, and it might not even be your fault. Ive seen shit like pants malfunctions, one guy just bending over on a video and his gun randomly discharges into his leg, cops disarming someone and NDing them in the process, etc. All of these would have been prevented with a manual safety.

Now I'm not saying you should 100% rely on a safety. Mechanical safeties can fail, but so can a holster. And if you're carrying live with just a kydex holster, youre essentially relying on the holster in place of a safety. All you have to do is practice working the safety in your draw. Its literally the same draw time with or without the safety for me.

I do think if you would like to carry with one in the chamber but want that extra layer, a manual safety that you can operate with one hand is the perfect thing for you. TED talk over.