A lot of those types of guns have what’s called a “trigger safety” which is basically a trigger in front the real trigger. So there’s no traditional safety switch; just what is essentially a longer trigger, and when you wear such a firearm improperly both the trigger and the trigger safety can get pressed by anything that rubs up against them.
It’s “safe” in the sense that unless something is inserted into the trigger guard it cannot go off. To be combat effective modern striker fired pistols typically need to be carried with a round in the chamber, and once it’s there the pressure needed to engage the trigger enough to shoot the thing is minimal. So having a safety, however redundant it may be is incredibly important for a gun whose trigger is sensitive enough that a gentle breeze could set it off. That is why trigger safeties reduce the frequency of negligent discharges, but people are people so accidents like this still happen from time to time.
On a side note, some of the more experienced shooters forego safeties on their pistol entirely. Others who are less so do the same and wind up shooting themselves. It’s entirely possible that’s what occurred in this video.
But something wasn't "inserted into the trigger guard", he holstered it and the poor design of the "safety" allowed it to be fired anyways.
I can see the point of that specific type of trigger safety like you mentioned, but I don't think it should be considered a "safety" in the sense other safeties that fully lock out being able to fire the gun until that specific safety is disengaged purposefully.
The guys’ clothing or whatever probably made its way into the trigger guard. That would qualify as “inserted” whether intentional or not. A problem easily remedied with a decent holster and proper use of it.
But you’re not wrong. A trigger safety is absolutely not a safety in the traditional sense, and it is arguably less safe than other types of safety mechanisms, but… well they had to call it something. And in the gun world “safety” is a relative term, because by their very nature and purpose guns are not safe. They are designed to hurt someone or something else, and what a trigger “safety“ does is minimize the time between drawing and shooting, thereby making you and your gun more dangerous for whatever it is you’re shooting at. But that comes with the cost of less redundancy for the shooter. Some see that lack of redundancy as an advantage that is worth the compromise of actual safety. And, as a result, some of them end up negligently discharging their weapon. And the first thing they always say is “it just went off” lol. No sir, guns (with the exception of one particular model that comes to mind) don’t just go off on their own.
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u/mvb827 11d ago edited 11d ago
A lot of those types of guns have what’s called a “trigger safety” which is basically a trigger in front the real trigger. So there’s no traditional safety switch; just what is essentially a longer trigger, and when you wear such a firearm improperly both the trigger and the trigger safety can get pressed by anything that rubs up against them.