[Omikron]

I was wondering what everyone's opinion was on the fact that most M&P pistols have no safety mechanism whatsoever. I've noticed that other pistols such as the Springfield XD seem to place a much higher level of importance on mechanical measures against accidental discharges.



I know several people who CC directly in their waistband I'm not sure I could convince them to point a weapon at their wedding tackle without a manual safety.



What do you guys think?



Omi-

 

[JLR]

The MP does have mechanical safeties to prevent accidental discharges, they are all disengaged automatically when the trigger is pulled. Don't pull the trigger and the gun will not fire.



The MP, along with the HK LEM, Glock, Sig, Kahr, etc., do not have manual external safeties. All are very safe pistols that do not require aditional safeties. But no handgun, with or without external manual safeties, should be carried "Mexican". All pistols require a proper holster for many reasons.



The reason why I did not buy an XD is because of the un-needed, obvious, additional safety items. I do not require a grip safety, striker indicator, tactile chamber indicator, trigger safety and firing pin safety on the same gun. I wish for my self defense guns to be simple and all safeties to be inside and passive during the firing sequence.

 

[choochboost]

I do not require a grip safety, striker indicator, tactile chamber indicator, trigger safety and firing pin safety on the same gun.

But they make great bullet points (no pun intended) in Springfield's ads and they can boast that Glock doesn't have them. Some get sucked right into the vortex.

 

[Dan Burwell]

The only GSW we have had at our IDPA matches was with an XD. Happened while holstering the weapon unfortunatly the grip saftey is depressed when holstering and the individual took a 40 to the leg. He was fine after a trip to the ER in a fast red van. He still says his finger was not on the trigger. He sent the gun back to springfield to have it checked, they didn't say what they found but the did pay his medical bills.



My point isn't bash on XDs or springfields (actually they could have easily said user error go screw yourself but they didn't and paid for him) My point is no external safties will keep you from getting shot. The only thing that will keep you from a bullet is not ever pointing a gun at any part of your body.

 

[Omikron]

The only thing that will keep you from a bullet is not ever pointing a gun at any part of your body

Right except when you are carrying a concealed weapon that's pretty much impossible at some point the thing is going to be at least pointed at your leg.

 

[Dan Burwell]

Nope sorry no exceptions that is the only way you can ensure you will not be shot. No safety will keep you from being shot.



Yes you may have to point a gun at yourself to carry conceled depending on your choice of holster but that is a choice you have to make and the risk you take with that decision.



I have carried 1911 for many years and have found the safety to occasionally work its way off, grip safties may fail. So I maintain only one way to keep yourself from obtaining extra holes.

 

[Rottie71]

Best safety feature is your trigger finger, no matter what firearm your carrying.

 

[101Combat Vet]

Best safety feature is your trigger finger, no matter what firearm your carrying.

exactly plus the internal safety features of the m&p that is why I trust it ALWAYS.. and the only thing that could change my mind is a rash of accidental discharges that have ruled out human error

 

[45guy]

I believe the best safety is between your ears.

 

[ClosetCaseNerd]

Single action pistols need safeties... people are so damn used to seeing and using them on rifles and 1911's they forget their original purpose.



A safety is for a single action weapon. The M9 (what we use in the military) is designed to be carried with the safety off, in DA mode. The ever popular sig has no active safety. NO revolvers (that I know of) have an active safety...



Mechanical things are all subject to the possibility of failure, and may through their presence lull one into a false sense of security. That said, I wouldn't mind an active safety on my M&P (for the simple reason of keeping the same manual of arms as with my issued weapons), but I am perfectly fine without one.

 

[JLR]

My mother was a probation officer in NY state and issued a S&W 9mm, not certain on the model number. Their training dictated manual external safety off and in double action mode, the same as the militaries M9 as noted earlier. Mom never shot her self by accident all those years.



I also never carry a firearm in a way that it is pointed me. Have the discipline to follow that rule and you don't have anything to worry about.

 

[FieroCDSP]

Think about how many striker fired pistols there are out there. Just the Glocks alone account for a huge number. Walther, Smith, Sig, Springfield, etc....Almost every manufacturer makes at least one. With all of those numbers, the Negligent Discharge number is extremely low. Even accounting for most of those guns not actually being carried, the numbers say that ND's are far and few between. Now, while the numbers on hammer fired guns are not the same, I'd venture to say that human nature lends itself to a subconscious reliance on safeties. How many stories have you heard ending with "I thought the safety was on". Those who live the four rules know not to trust mechanical safeties, and thus their existance doesn't matter. Those people know the odds of an AD due to defect are slim to none, and rarely have a problem carrying striker guns without safeties. Many of the rest may eventually find themselves actually counting on their safety being there and it might not be. That's when someone gets hurt.



Keep your booger-hook off the trigger and know your holster, and everything will probably be fine.

 

[G56]

The pistol has a number of safeties, they are all passive, what you are thinking about are active safeties that you have to physically do something, the safeties of the M&P are built in, you don't even realize you are using them, an example is the hinged trigger, it is less likely to get tripped by accident than some other types, but when you want to shoot you don't have to do anything special, it has a safety that keeps it from discharging if its dropped, but again it's passive, you don't have to do anything, some models have a magazine safety which prevents it from firing if the magazine is not in place, and you know the little bar you have to push down to take the pistol apart, that's another safety, on the M&P they designed it so you wouldn't have to pull the trigger to take it apart, some of the competitors you do have to pull the trigger to field strip them, Glock is an example, and there have been several accidents with the Glock because of that.



The M&P has a number of safeties, they just aren't obvious.

 

[thedude]

I think the first thing I ever learned about guns was that safeties are mechanical devices that can fail. Just be careful when you holster the gun and get a good kydex holster where the gun snaps into place in the holster and the trigger is completely encased.



There are a countless number of people who have shot themselves and others while their guns were "on safe." Safeties on guns do not make the gun "safe," they just make some people more careless.

 

[choochboost]

Safeties on guns do not make the gun "safe," they just make some people more careless.

That about sums up how I feel about it.

 

[machgt]

I believe the best safety is between your ears.

x 10000000000

 

[mity2]

I used to think safety was must have for any hundguns. first time I looked at M&P, i didn't buy it because it didn't have safety(and Beretta did).



But now I've carried my gun next me for long time, and other gun with safety(like my S&W 3913), i truely feel safety - in emergency situation would cause more issue then good.

I mean your finger should not be on trigger unless your pulling it, and striker would not hit firing pin unless trigger is pulled. So more and more I think about it, like poster above said, true safety is between my ears.

 

[Omally]

The only thing that will keep you from a bullet is not ever pointing a gun at any part of your body.

But I thought the only way to ensure I won't be shot is to let liberals ban all our guns.

 

[MiesKuusikosta]

I had one "accidental" discharge with my M&P 9. I loaded 3 rounds in the magazine and then decided to shoot 2 rounds as fast as I could. So I fired 2 rounds, then I took the magazine out and checked it was empty, then I aimed and fired an empty shot towards the target (backwall of the range). BOOM! Thank God I pointed the gun towards a safe place and fired the empty shot as if there was a live round in the chamber...because there was one.



No external safety could have prevented this from happening, perhaps a mag safety (not in my M&P 9) would have prevented it but I doubt it since I believed the chamber was empty and I would have put the mag back in to fire the empty shot.



Only thing that would have prevented this is that I should have had more situational awareness when I handled my gun. I should have been aware that there is still one round waiting to go off. The only good thing is that fired it safely and no accident happened. My ego definitely got dented.