Thor is absolutely correct.
The pistol would have to have a defective sear/firing pin engagement problem for an accident or someone pulled the trigger.
The upper half of a luger is most definitely a weapon unto itself when the sear is no longer protected by the sideplate. all you have to do is press down on the forward part of the sear bar and BOOM! I certainly wouldn't want to be holding the top when it discharged. I would imagine that the recoil and possible opening of the toggle in your hand would be quite painful.
I also remember a court case about 40 years ago where an individual was being charged with assault with a deadly weapon because he was attacked in a bar by and unarmed man and he pulled a Luger out of his pocket and hit the guy over the head with it. That stopped the attack, but even though the safety was on, the Luger fired coincidental with the thump on the attacker's head and the bullet went through the front window of the bar and struck and killed an innocent bystander accross the street.
I remember that the judge praised the man for not intentionally using the Luger on his attacker as a firearm but rather as a club, but as I recall he was also found guilty of unintentional manslaughter because the person across the street died. "If you hadn't used the loaded gun as a club, that person would still be alive..."
I have never been able to "accidently" make a Luger fire, so I don't understand either of these situations... just reporting what I remember...
-John
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