[Olle]

I don't carry a gun at work like you do and I'm definitely not as good at handling and shooting guns as I would like to be, but I would still like to comment on your post:

Originally Posted by Jack Lawman

1. The Glock has three passive safeties: Trigger, firing pin, and drop. In the heat of a gunfight, many officers carrying firearms with a manual safety will draw on a threat, mash on a locked trigger, realize they need to flip off the safety, flip off the safety, then fire. This 1 – 2 second delay has cost lives. A Glock is drawn and fired… period. Is it a training issue? Certainly. Would it be “safer” if all police carried manual safety arms and trained the safety flip into their subconscious? Absolutely. That saud, I have yet to see any body of citizenry clamor to pay higher taxes for better guns and triple range, ammo, and manpower expenses. Even so, the bad cops will carry their pistols with the safety off to “get the edge.”

What you're comparing here is a Glock with a loaded chamber and a SA/DA pistol with loaded chamber and the safety on, and I don't think this is a fair comparison. If you look at the actual condition of the weapon, you should compare with a SA/DA with a loaded chamber, safety off and the hammer lowered. In this scenario I'd say that the SA/DA has an edge safetywise, as the trigger pull is heavier than on a Glock in the same condition (much like a revolver). Also, it can be deployed just as quickly as the Glock, without fumbling for the safety.

Originally Posted by Jack Lawman

2. I submit that 99.9% of all Glock accidental discharges are caused by user error. The trigger is pulled on a loaded chamber, period. The trigger must be pulled on a Glock in order to disassemble. It is drilled over and over to never pull the trigger on a loaded firearm if you don’t intend to shoot. People forget, sometimes with fatal consequences. The only true accidental discharge of a Glock (as opposed to negligent discharge) I have heard of is an officer was holstering his Glock at the range and a small plastic ball dangling from the drawstring of his raid jacket found its way inside the trigger guard of his pistol. When he holstered, the object depressed the trigger safety and the pistol discharged (minor injury IIRC).

I agree that the vast majority of accidents are due to operator error, and I'd also say that it's way easier to make a mistake with the Glock. The only thing that indicates that the gun is ready to fire is the position of the trigger, and it's easy to make a mistake if you don't know what you're looking at. It is definitely a training and awareness issue, but it's still easier to make a mistake with a Glock than with a gun that has more visible "warning features". This is my major gripe with "the safest gun in the world": How can the average Joe Blow tell the difference between an unloaded gun, and one that is ready to fire? I'd say that most people can't, unless they are well trained on Glocks in particular. The sad truth is that the majority of private gun owners don't take the time to learn all the particulars of their guns, and that's why many accidents happen. A first time gun owner lured into buying a Glock is an accident waiting to happen.

Originally Posted by Jack Lawman

3. The majority of gunfights take place between contact distance and 7 yards. Urban police gunfights usually take place between 0 and 10 feet. At these distances, I would gladly go up against any supertuned .45 with a working 9mm Bryco, Jennings, Kel-Tec, etc IF I get a 1 second headstart on the draw. At these distances, the inherent accuracy of the firearm just isn’t an issue. Though not as accurate as a match pistol, the Glock is as accurate as most any other service pistol.

I agree 100%. In this scenario, you don't need a bullseye pistol, you need one that goes bang every time you pull the trigger.