Take down trigger pulls....negligent manufacturing?

[Clinotus]

Take down trigger pulls....negligent manufacturing?


Glocks, XDs, and S&W Sigmas to name a few, are popular handguns that require the user to pull the trigger on the firearm in order to dismantle or to clean the firearm. This easy take down system though seems to be the cause of a lot of bad press, loss of liberties and sadly the worst being: loss of life.

It is fairly obvious that any gun should be in the correct, read: safe direction when handling it at any time whether it be loaded or unloaded...and yet stories of Negligent Discharges with disastrous results around a central cleaning theme keep occurring. It seems that on any given day we can open the paper or read on a slew of popular firearms websites stories about near misses or negligent discharges and find that these tales of woe are on the rise.

We all know that as safe hobbyists, shooters, and hunters that that implies that the users are not following or are unable to follow the number one safety rule.

Which brings me to wonder if in fact the take down system itself should properly be labeled negligent or classed as a design flaw light of consumer safety and protection.


Whaaaaaaaaaat?


Now before you steam up at the gills about individual rights and responsibilities, I would like to offer a slight segue into cars and seatbelts, motor cycles and helmets, hair dryers and GFCI plugs . At all points 'big brother' had to step in for the safety of the consumer and to lessen the amount of funding spend spatula'ing people off the roads, or tarping a corpse out of a bathroom. With each of those industries and uses now subject to industry or corporate conduct, at which point do you think the ND issue will be addressed?

Some manufacturers have already started the process to consumer-ize their products in line of safety regulations or just simply to avoid later litigation with items like loaded chamber indicators. But even so is this enough?

Is this a battle that we should prepare for, or just see the writing on the wall for the day that every firearm sold has a 20lb trigger pull, with a bright orange 'loaded' cone that pops up to indicate the firearm is actually loaded.

What do you think?

[Scarecrow411]

The point is valid at a very basic level. Who would wash a blender who's first instructions were "Plug blender in."? On the flip side, I'm sure there's a lot of gunsmithy/design reasons why it's easy or necessary to pull the trigger before disassembly - or why to engineer around that would be tough.

We're big boys with responsibility and these are FIREARMS and require all the respect and attention a rattle snake does. I would sooner see cars regulated at a mandatory 35mph then any sort of "consumer protection" law about the trigger pull/take down.

[Fang]

Is a trigger-pull takedown fundamentally different from dry-fire practice? Although a lot of people push back on the muzzle with their hands during the takedown process, it's just as easily done with a table or wall.

More generally, this is a special case of the same question that befuddles people when debating whether to teach abstinence or use of birth control in school: Is it better to stick to simple principle and hope to encourage responsible behavior in more people, or to try to help those who are irresponsible at the cost of tacitly approving their irresponsibility?

I take the stance that if someone doesn't have the presence of mind to thoroughly clear a gun before taking it down, it's preferable to have negligence be manifested by a self-inflicted gunshot wound than in a negligent accident affecting others.

[Nitrogen]

I wouldn't go so far as to say it's poor manufacturing.

I WILL say it's less than optimal.

The woman that taught me to shoot had an ND with a glock while taking it down. The extractor failed to grip the ridge, and BAM. It was a great lesson in the four rules, too.

[Clinotus]

I wouldn't go so far as to say it's poor manufacturing.

I WILL say it's less than optimal.

The woman that taught me to shoot had an ND with a glock while taking it down. The extractor failed to grip the ridge, and BAM. It was a great lesson in the four rules, too.

Quite an introduction to the four rules of safety I can imagine. If only more people were adamant about following the rules of safe handling...