In Part One of this discussion about handgun safeties, I hope I made my point about firearm safety being primarily a matter of intelligent and careful gun handling, rather than a result of any particular mechanical device. I got on this subject because I talk to many people who seem to feel that some type of manual safety is needed on a handgun and the mere presence of such a feature somehow makes a gun safe. Again I say: safety is achieved through user competence.

Whether a specific type of safety is a help or a hindrance depends on how well the user understands the device and how well trained he or she is in its use. In selecting duty handguns, law enforcement agencies usually are trying to walk a careful path between effectiveness, simplicity of use and covering themselves in the liability department. There are various mechanical features that can enhance safety, when used properly. Before I go there, however, I think it is appropriate to cover a brief bit of police firearms history.

The traditional double action revolver was the gun of choice for most law enforcement agencies for many decades. It was an ideal tool because it was simple to operate and the long and heavy double action trigger pull, though not the best for accuracy, did prevent most accidental discharges. Trouble began immediately, of course, when the revolvers were manually cocked into single action mode. Most accidental shootings occurred when someone had their finger on that trigger, which now had a very short and very light pull, and they were bumped, startled or just plain shaky from whatever the incident was that caused them to draw the gun in the first place. Many agencies addressed this problem by altering their revolvers to fire double action only (DAO). Eventually someone figured out that keeping your finger off the trigger until you actually intend to fire the gun would be a good thing, and we are still trying to make that idea a universal practice to this day.