ScottDLS wrote:At the risk of starting a religious war and being banned forever...
I read an interesting article on the safety (or lack thereof) of striker fired pistols (specifically Glocks) for LEO use. I've always felt more comfortable carrying DA/SA pistols or revolvers for concealed carry. My current most common carry is a DA/SA Walther PPK/s w/ thumb safety on. I've heard some LEO opinion that a service weapon should not be carried with safety on, as it results in longer reaction time. Also was told that the current military practice is to carry sidearm with safety off. Perhaps this is less critical for "civilian CCW". Just personally I've never been comfortable carrying a Glock due to the lighter trigger pull than a DA pistol. No doubt they are quite good guns and I enjoy shooting them. I could consider carrying a DA with safety off, as I also sometimes carry a revolver.
What do you all think about the premise of the article?
-Scott
http://bearingarms.com/cops-glocks/
The article takes a leftists' approach to history - keep doing what didn't work the first time and it'll work eventually. The author of that article either ignores or doesn't know that what he advocates was already tried and failed miserably.
When police departments converted from revolvers to semiautos en masse in the late 80's and early 90's, many agencies adopted DA/SA guns under the exact theory the author espouses. What actually happened was that first shot accuracy was bad to the point that some officers adapted by firing their first shot into the ground during armed engagements to get to the decent SA pull without killing an innocent. That's not the fault of the gun, and the author is correct that a devoted shooter will overcome the heavier pull and the DA/SA transition and shoot very well with a DA/SA gun. The problem is that there are very few devoted shooters on the street in uniform in many agencies, particularly those in large cities.
When agencies figured out that the heavy first shot pull was the problem (by finally listening to the firearms instructors who had been telling them what was wrong), they went with DA all the time (another bad choice for the general police population and a minority today), Glock safe action, or a Springfield XD style single action guns with the last two options being predominant.
There is no viable mechanical substitute for good safety practices, and recreating past failures won't change that in the future.
