Every once in a while, I see something so egregious on the internet that I feel I have to step in and say something. The most recent whopper was this statement: A safety on a firearm will get you killed!
Posting this drivel was someone who identified himself as a “life-long shooter” with “plenty of experience and expertise around handguns.” Well, yeah. Whatever.
Here is my take on this: Way too many people think equipment can make up for a lack of training. If someone has gotten killed because he or she failed to disengage a safety when the gunfight started, that is a training issue, not an equipment issue. Period.
Quite simply, the person who forgot to disengage the safety did not train enough with his or her firearm to make that motion second nature. It takes 3000 to 6000 repetitions to commit something to muscle memory. You would be much better off conducting 10,000 perfect repetitions to ensure that when your life is on the line, you make the right movements to make your gun go bang.
If your gun has a frame-mounted or slide-mounted safety lever, you should, as soon as you draw, disengage the safety. As your gun comes up on target, before you put your finger on the trigger, you should be manipulating that safety lever to make sure your gun can fire if you need it to.
This is not an unsafe act. If you maintain trigger finger discipline, you can disengage that safety and hold your attacker at gunpoint without firing a shot. But if you need to fire a shot, you will be able to do so quickly. The best way to do this is to make disengaging your safety part of your draw stroke. Get a good firing grip on the gun and defeat any retention mechanisms required to draw the gun. Pull straight up and, as the gun clears the holster, rotate the barrel to the target. This is a really good place to disengage the safety. Bring your hands together in the center of your chest and establish a good two-handed firing grip as you push out to full extension. Acquire the sight picture and, if required, press the trigger to fire the shot.
You should be able to perform all those functions in much less than the time it took you to read those words. Notice that you should only have your finger on the trigger at the very end of this operation. The gun will not “go off” just because you release the safety. It will be pointed at the bad guy and you will be ready to shoot with only the movement of your finger to the trigger. That’s all there is to it.
If you want a gun with a safety, buy a gun with a safety and then train with it — not until you get it right, but until you can’t get it wrong.
Up or Down?
Frame-mounted safeties, like found on 1911-pattern pistols, typically move down to allow the gun to fire. Slide-mounted safeties, like found on Beretta and other pistols, typically move up to allow the gun to fire. Learn how your gun works. Your life depends on it.
