What are firearm safeties, and why do I believe we need them? When used irresponsibly, a firearm can cause tremendous damage. Naturally, we always want to use a firearm safely and responsibly. Ergo, there must be mechanisms that prevent accidental discharges. For example, if a firearm were to be accidentally dropped, or the trigger snagged on something, it could unintentionally fire. The first way to prevent this is to provide an obstruction or an action that must be performed before the firearm can be discharged.
With modern pistols, shotguns, and semi-auto and automatic rifles, some users fill the magazine with cartridges and carry the firearm without a cartridge in the firing chamber. To discharge the firearm, the user needs to first hold the firearm with one hand and use the other hand to work the action. This will load the first cartridge into the chamber and cock the weapon.
The user can then press the trigger to discharge the firearm or engage the safety. Other users prefer to carry their firearms with a cartridge already in the chamber. The firearm already is cocked. This is called Condition 1 by Jeff Cooper, “A round chambered, full magazine in place, hammer cocked, safety on.”
Internal vs. External
Firearm safeties are generally divided into two major types, the external or manual safety and the internal or automatic type of safety. Manual safeties typically consist of mechanisms that require the user to switch them on or off. For example, they may be in the form of a lever or button that needs to be pushed or a grip that needs to be squeezed to deactivate the safety mechanism.
Internal or automatic safeties, on the other hand, are turned on or off as part of another action such as a hammer block safety that prevents the hammer from striking the firing pin. Only when the trigger is deliberately pressed will the hammer block be moved out of the hammer’s path. The act of pressing the trigger deactivates the internal safety. With this type of safety, the hammer can not strike the firing pin should the firearm be accidentally dropped.
There will always be some disagreement about carrying a firearm with the chamber empty. Some argue that it takes too long to load a cartridge when one is already behind the reaction curve in a defensive situation. My argument for carrying your firearm loaded is that you might only have one hand available — especially at contact distance. Because of that, let’s look at the manual or external safety in more detail first.
Manual Safeties
When in the “safe” position, a manual safety either prevents the trigger from moving or prevents the firing mechanism from moving or disconnects the trigger from the firing mechanism or a combination thereof. There are various types of these manual safeties, and we will look at some of these types below.
Sliding or Tang Safety
First is the tang-mounted sliding safety switch. When set to the rear (on safe), the trigger cannot be pulled, when pushed forward (off safe) the arm can be fired. This type of safety is most typically seen on shotguns but is also seen on some sporting rifles — most often single-shot models, but also some bolt actions.
Cross-Bolt or Button Safety
Another type of safety typically featured on rifles and shotguns is a cross-bolt or button safety. The safety is a button, which can be found behind or just in front of the trigger. When the safety is activated, it prevents the trigger from moving. When it’s depressed, you see a red band indicating the firearm can be fired. Remember, “Red is Dead!”
Safety/Selector Lever
The long selector/lever safety typical of the AK-style rifle. When the lever is rotated up to the safe position, it not only locks the trigger, but also physically prevents the bolt from moving fully backward. When rotated to either the single-shot or auto-fire mode, the bolt is free to completely cycle all the way.
Pivot or Thumb Safety
The next type of safety is the frame-mounted pivoting or thumb safety, where the safety lever moves about a pivot point. These are typically operated by using the thumb to manipulate the lever, hence the name. They work by preventing the hammer from striking the firing pin. Some also disengage the trigger from the rest of the action.
There may be a corresponding lever on the other side of the frame. Ambidextrous models can be manipulated with either hand. This type of safety, in my opinion, is one of the most ergonomic for a fighting handgun.
Grip Safety
This is a popular mechanism that was first seen on the classic John Browning-designed pistols. As the name implies, a grip safety is a lever located in the grip of the firearm. The user’s hand naturally depresses the safety lever when the firearm is gripped and this disables the safety device, thus enabling the user to operate the firearm. When the user releases their grip on the firearm, the safety lever automatically pops out again and the safety is automatically re-engaged.
On the M1911 pistol, the grip safety lever is at the rear of the pistol’s frame on the grip. The nice thing about the grip safety is that it is automatically enabled or disabled as the user holds or releases the firearm. A firearm with this type of safety device will only fire when the user is holding the gun. If the user were to accidentally drop the firearm, the safety automatically engages and prevents the firearm from discharging.
At this point, I must add that the pistols designed by John Browning are the most ergonomic ever designed. He got it right on so many levels. Just consider his thumb safety, it is placed on the frame where the thumb naturally rests when the pistol is gripped.
When you are not under stress and place it on safe, the more unnatural movement takes place. However, when under stress the more natural movement of pressing downward releases the safety. Conversely, I find European designs counterintuitive where the safety is usually on the slide, difficult to reach, and must be pushed up for the pistol to fire. Most unnatural especially under stress.
Integrated Trigger Safety
This type of safety device became popular in Glock pistols. In my opinion, this type of safety is tantamount to no safety at all. Unfortunately, since its introduction, other manufacturers also offer models with this feature. Not because they are better (because they are not), but because they are cheaper to manufacture. Anything to save a buck.
With this safety, there is a small, spring-loaded lever embedded into the trigger. That is the integrated trigger safety device. The lever is depressed by the user as he or she rests their finger on the trigger… Are you kidding me?
When the lever is depressed, it unlocks the main trigger and allows it to move. One cannot move the main trigger without depressing the small lever fully, deliberately, or accidentally and enable it to fire.
Decocking Lever
This type of safety feature is present in some semi-automatic, double-action pistols — usually European in design. Many people like to carry this type of pistol with a round chambered and the hammer decocked (Condition 2, using Jeff Coopers carry conditions). The pistol is “considered safe” because it takes a longer, heavier trigger pull to cock and release the hammer.
When a user wants to carry a pistol in this condition, they initially insert a loaded magazine and then pull back on the pistol’s slide to load the first round in the chamber. However, that action also cocks the hammer. So, the user must decock the hammer without firing the pistol.
With a decocking lever, the mechanism blocks the hammer from slamming down on the firing mechanism by covering or retracting the firing pin. The hammer can then be safely released without triggering the firearm. Of course, all mechanisms can fail. It is still a good idea to point the firearm in a safe direction before operating the decocking lever.
Three-Position Safety
One of the most popular types of rifle safeties is the Winchester Model 70’s three-position safety. The three-position safety is a small lever mounted to the cocking piece of a rifle that rotates fore and aft on a vertical axis. Forward (Fire), halfway back (Safe, but allowing bolt movement), and fully to the rear (Safe, with bolt and firing pin locked). Many custom rifles have this type of safety installed because of its ease of operation, located where the thumb has easy access.
The Safety Catch
There is one other type of safety that has been present on military rifles such as the M1 Garand and M14. It is still found on some currently-produced sporting models such as the Ruger Mini series of rifles. This type of safety mechanism is located forward of the trigger for convenient operation and is “ON” when in the fully rearward position, intruding into the trigger guard. It is disengaged when pushed forward and protruding outside of the trigger guard. When this type of safety is “ON,” it blocks both the hammer and sear.
That should give you a good basic understanding of some types of firearm safeties and how they work. Before you buy, try various types of safeties on different firearms and see which type works best for you best.
Which type of safety do you prefer and why? Share your answers in the comment section.