At the very least, it gives the user the option and it allows for a much safer holstering. Engage the safety to holster, and then click it off if you feel that you can't trust yourself to click it off in the .0001% chance you have to quick draw and shoot it out with the bad guys. I carried a Glock 19 and a 26, the 26 exclusively IWB, and the 19 sometimes in, sometimes out. But they had the NY trigger with a 12 pound pull. Sticking a 5 pound trigger into my waistband, especially the all the rage tactical warrior appendix carry IWB, not a chance on this earth. I know, I know, I need to "get more training". Maybe I'll finally get it in the next 30 years I carry a weapon.
Ive carried a number of different guns on a daily basis over the years, mostly 1911's, SIG's and Glocks, or at least they were the longest used. Carried a few others too, including 2" and 4"revolvers.
I carried a 1911 the longest, about 25 years, and the SIG's the shortest, about 8 years. Glocks from then on. All the while carrying them, I was shooting them on a once or twice a week basis and handling them every day, and I still do that, with a variety of guns, not just the Glocks I now carry. I like to stay familiar with anything I might have to pick up and use.
Manual safeties are not the "saftey" a lot of people want you to believe. They mostly work, sometimes they dont, sometimes they go on when you put them on, but dont stay that way, and are off at the end of the day, and you havent touched the gun since. Sometimes they dont disengage when you squeeze the grip, mostly they do. Sometimes they come from the factory and are inoperable, sometimes they wear in that way. Ive had all of those experiences with them, and 99.5% of that, was with a 1911.
If one gun was probably safest for the uninitiated, or just basically trained, the SIG, Beretta, etc, would probably be the gun to choose, but they, like anything else, still require you to learn the gun, and remember to do "something" after youve shot it, to make it "safer". Thats usually where the problem comes in with them. That, and failing to learn to shoot DA properly. That first shot can be a challenge too, and a danger to other, besides the target, if the shooter cant shoot that way.
Holstering is holstering, with any of them, and should always be done "hesitantly" with any of them. Maybe if that was ingrained into everyones head, guns wouldnt go into the holster still cocked with no safety on or were never decocked. No matter the gun, you still need to pay attention when you reholster, especially if youre carrying IWB, or OWB concealed. The trigger weight is meaningless, they all will shoot if something gets in the way, and youre a dip ****, and dont pay attention. And as before, its STILL not the guns fault for doing what the gun does.
Henceforth why I'm so picky on quality holsters for striker fired pistols. Apendix carry? Nope.
Ive been carrying a Glock daily for over a decade now. Started IWB, as Ive always carried, and switched to AIWB 6-8 + years ago. Have not regretted that choice the least bit either, and wish now Id done it sooner. Its perfectly safe, as long as you are safe. Of course, like anything else, you need to work at it and condition yourself until youre able to draw and reholster without thought. Although you never reholster without thought, if possible. But being able to, reduces the chance of problems considerably, if you do.
AIWB offers better protection and concealment for the gun, is quicker and easier to get to the gun, is a good bit quicker on the draw, and allows for a more secretive draw with less telegraphing.
Ive carried all sorts of guns in the past "Mexican" carry, and that includes Glocks. I made a specific and good effort to vet the Glocks carrying one that way unloaded as a trial, mainly because the internet experts all told me I was going to shoot the chicken nuggets off if I did.
To this day, I have never had a Glock drop a trigger that was not intentionally pulled with my finger when I wanted it pulled, no matter how I have carried it. I handled the gun way out of line to what I would normally do too, and never once dropped the trigger, other than an intentional pull. I also carried one in a Smart Carry holster every summer for the past 8 years or so, doing heavy physical work. Never a problem.
I dont know any other way to say this, so Ill keep saying it over and over, the problem here is not the gun, of any type, its a training and user problem. Period!
If the user isnt willing to put in the time and effort to learn the gun, and be safe and competent with it, then the reality is, they shouldnt be carrying or using it. I dont care if its a first time gun buyer, or a supposedly trained individual who carries one for their job. That is just what it is.
The only way you learn to use them safely and properly is to constantly handle them unloaded in practice and reinforce proper handling, and shooting them, from how you carry them, on a regular basis.
You can say the average person wont do that, and you may be right, but that is the only way I know to do this. Anything dangerous needs training, and constant positive reenforcemnt to make it safer. An 8 hour training class and maybe some live fire, is barely a beginning, a start, and there is no end. Its a constant and ongoing thing.
Its not my fault, or the guns fault, if they are lazy and dont want to bother, and its really not going to matter what the gun is, safety, no safety, whatever, sooner or later, those people will have a problem.
I think Gabe Suarez puts it perfectly, mediocrity is not something to strive for. Yet it seems to me, many seem to think it is a goal.
