I don't read Vogue...
I never realised they covered cocked and locked issue in such depth. I may have to add Vogue to my reading list.
The reason cocked and locked looks scary is because for a couple of hundred years all guns had something like a hammer, and when it was back, the gun was able to fire. How many flintlocks and caplocks have safeties? Until the last couple of decades how many guns with hammers had any kind of safety? A few auto pistols was all. All the rifles and shotguns with hammers, the hammer is the safety. So, a cocked gun is associated with being "dangerous", which actually, it is.
There may be a few exceptions, but generally this is true. You didn't cock the gun until you were ready to shoot, so a cocked gun means you are ready to shoot. And being ready to go off (shoot) looks dangerous to a lot of people.
DA autos didn't go anywhere much until the Walther P-38. And the P-38 only went big in Germany, where it had advantages for the German military. The idea pretty much faded away for the next 30 years, and then came on again, strong. The whole "Wundernine" thing. DA, double stack, it was what everybody wanted. Well, not everybody.
Look at the equipment under discussion here. Auto pistols, defensive/duty use; All the designs fall into two broad categories.
Those intended for military use, and everything else. The pistols are either designed to meet a military contract, or are designed, and then go looking for military/police contracts to fill.
Different design features have military priority. Police use may change the priority if features, and civilian use may change them yet again.
And the military, police, and even civilians change their mind about what is most important, from time to time.
My opinion is that SA autos are best for the military and civilians who know what they are doing. DA autos are best for police. Military, police and civilians who are not as knowledgeable/trained are best served by DA revolvers. People with no knowledge/training should run, call 911, use a baseball bat, contemplate their navel, open a dialogue with their assailant, or whatever other course of action seems reasonable to them.
The logic here is that, military combat, and civilian self defense are a case of identify target, shoot. Soldiers are supposed to shoot the enemy when they see him. When civilians need to shoot, they need to shoot. The SA auto shines in this regard.
Police, on the other hand, use the pistol as a threat of force much more often than they actually have to fire it. How often does an officer cover a suspect, ready to shoot, without actually having to shoot? Lots, from what people tell me. The DA auto with it's long (relatively) heavy first shot pull is a lot less likely to be fired unintentionally, in a high stress adrenaline pumped situation. Makes better sense to me for police work.
And then there is the Glock. Fantastic plastic. The greatrest thing ever. Combat tupperware. etc, etc. Radically different, requiring (slightly) different manual of arms. Neither fish, nor fowl, nor good red meat. Some people like them, some don't. Some people are obsessive about it.
Striker fired, "safety" on the
trigger! And other "nontraditional" features. Where does this fit in? The argument rages.
Cocked and locked is no less safe than any other system. It is no slower either. For many years, police couldn't use hollowpoints, because they looked "scary" in beltloops. When the cops switched to autos, where the public couldn't see the spare ammo, they went to hollowpoints. Cocked and locked doesn't get it for uniform wear in a lot of places. Even in the military. But for action, or in preparation for action, cocked and locked is what serious people use.
