Manual safety on edc’s

[7hatGuy]

My wife’s first gun was a S&W Shield 2.0. She purchased the one with the manual safety. She hates the gun itself and we are looking for something else.

Recently i purchased a gen 4 g26. She says she doesnt like it because it doesnt have a manual safety. Regardless of all i have told her about her being the ultimate safety and if you dont have extensive training with manual safeties it could cost you your life due to forgetting to disengage the safety she is still adamant about it.

How do i get her away from the idea that manual safeties make the gun safer? She is severely limiting herself by only wanting a gun with a manual safety.

We talked about passive safeties but she says they are not enough. Said something like what if someone comes up and snatches my gun. I laugh and was like honey its concealed. People are not gonna know.

I need to get her in some training classes so she can get more comfortable. She was raised without guns being in the picture and then she met me….

Anyone got any advice for me here?

 

[Twangbanger]

Tell her if someone snatches her gun, they're going to beat her senseless with it anyway...

I keed, I keed. Probably true, but probably also not the conversation you want to be having at this point.

How is she carrying, and why does she hate the Shield?

 

[Creedmoor]

So a manual safety on a striker fired doesn't make it safer to push in a holster with the safety on?
It makes it tough to shoot yourself when one catches a piece of shirt in the trigger guard when holstering with the safety on.
Look at the Taurus G3C

 

[J Galt]

When in the history of human existence has a man ever convinced a woman of anything?

Serious suggestion:

• be glad she carries
• let her have what she is comfortable with without any comment
• let her become more comfortable over time (days, months, years, whatever)
• have any other human being in existence tell her the exact same reasons to get rid of the guns with manual safeties that you have brought up
• when she acts like this is the most brilliant thing ever said in recorded history, smile, agree with her, and know that she is one step closer to being better able to defend herself (with constant training)

@7hatGuy

 

[Ziggy01]

I would echo what has already been posted. I would add that without knowing what she does not like about he shield it’s hard to make a suggestion. Might consider the Sig P365.

 

[Bigtanker]

A pistol with a grip safety, ie XDs/XDm or a EZ Shield may be an option. Properly gripping the gun will deactivate it.

Another and probably better option is to get her some good training as you mentioned. A good instructor can advise her on all things about manual safety better than a spouse.

 

[DadSmith]

Sounds like she is unsure of herself and skills.
She needs to shoot it a lot more, and I also suggest she field strip it often. This builds confidence in their skill, and confidence in the firearm. Both are needed and it also takes any fear away as well. This is just my experience in similar situations.

 

[NHT3]

I need to get her in some training classes so she can get more comfortable. She was raised without guns being in the picture and then she met me….

Anyone got any advice for me here?

You answered your own question.. Sad as it is your spouse/children will generally listen and take the same advice from someone else before listening to you. Training and being more comfortable with the firearm of her choice is the answer.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

For some (like my wife) experts have to come from outside the home. Where you might not be able to convince her, perhaps a ”credentialed expert” might.

 

[Steve]

Growing up with revolvers, I was taught that the best and safest safety was located between your ears. Having switched to semiautos in my older years, that advice still rings true. Won't own a handgun with a "bang blocker". Just my personal preference.

Unload her gun then unload it again. Leave it cocked and locked. Then have her close her eyes and draw it from wherever she carries it and dry fire it. She will quickly learn that the safety is a problem waiting to happen. Even the most experienced gun handler can have an occasional issue with a safety. And in the moment when you need your weapon, you should not being concentrating on anything but stopping the threat.

 

[Hoosier Carry]

My vote goes for allowing her to carry a firearm that she feels comfortable with in her own mind. If the manual safety is where she feels comfortable, then don’t push her to carry the way you like to carry.
Lots of practice may change her mind but then again it may not. She needs to have confidence in her own gun so let her.

 

[Dean C.]

Agreed with others, you have to let her do what she is comfortable with and having someone other than you train her.

Fortunately my wife had the exact opposite problem , she didn't want a safety on her gun just another thing to forget.

 

[Expat]

I am a little disturbed by all of these "allowing the little woman to think for herself" posts. Tell her she is lucky you allow her anything other than an airweight j frame.

 

[COOPADUP]

Maybe a decocker option ?

 

[Robert Richardson]

Just because you are not proficient enough to carry and use a handgun with a manual safety doesn't mean she isn't. She knows what she wants, let her make that decision. I doubt you would let her tell you what to carry.

 

[Joniki]

A pistol with a grip safety, ie XDs/XDm or a EZ Shield may be an option. Properly gripping the gun will deactivate it.

Another and probably better option is to get her some good training as you mentioned. A good instructor can advise her on all things about manual safety better than a spouse.

This...

 

[tcecil88]

The manual safety is not the problem. Lack of familiarity with a gun a person plans to carry every day is. The only way to train yourself to disengage the safety at the draw stroke is by training and shooting so the body has the muscle memory to do it sub-consciously. It's no different than a hunter disengaging the safety on their rifle or shotgun prior to taking a shot in the field. I find that I don't even think about it now, it just happens. Same as with my AR's at the range. Safety comes off, shots fired, safety back on. Just happens now through muscle memory.

 

[Trapper Jim]

Next we will say that the “little woman” can’t rack the slide or load magazines with out a device, or the sights seems to be set to the lower left of the target. It’s not a woman thing man, it’s a training thing.

 

[Doug]

The manual safety is not the problem. Lack of familiarity with a gun a person plans to carry every day is. The only way to train yourself to disengage the safety at the draw stroke is by training and shooting so the body has the muscle memory to do it sub-consciously. It's no different than a hunter disengaging the safety on their rifle or shotgun prior to taking a shot in the field. I find that I don't even think about it now, it just happens. Same as with my AR's at the range. Safety comes off, shots fired, safety back on. Just happens now through muscle memory.

This is true.
At the range, on the hip, in the "ready box," the 1911 is cocked and locked with the chamber loaded and the safety on. As the gun comes on target, the safety goes off before the finger goes to the trigger. Always, everywhere, every time. You will perform the way you train.
A manual safety is not a detriment if you train consistently.

That said, I pocket carry the dreaded .38 J- Frame hammerless with a big dot sight and lasergrips.

 

[KLB]

Manual safety on a handgun foils self defense shooting

I was talking to another detective last night and heard one of the saddest stories I've heard in quite awhile. I won't go into detail, but at one point the victim was able to get to a handgun in the house, put the gun into contact with the attacker...and nothing. The attacker took the gun away...

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