How many people have avoided injury due to a magazine disconnect? Ask LEO as to reality of dropping a mag with fine motor skills during a fight? If you have a ND other than noise it should not be a problem ( pointed away from anything you are not willing to destroy). Why would you pull the trigger before you get ready to clean a gun? I have carried Sigmas since they were made, I do not pull the trigger with out knowledge of the consequences. I may check too many times!! Inattention, distraction, impairment?? Why are you trying to manipulate your firearm while driving at 75, talking on the phone and drinking coffee?? Impaired--Substance, mental illness, trauma??
I always wear my seat belt, I like LCI, I do not care for mag disconnect but I do not believe that any government should mandate them.
As for lighting strikes I thought it was amazing the discrepancy throughout the US.
The OP asked chambered round or not in his gun, if he does not pull the trigger the gun will not go bang, if he would have a mechanical failure of his gun ( weak striker spring, broken trigger bar ) both would prevent firing not cause it.
I like documented facts, location of lighting strikes was not meant to be personal toward tedburns3, or any one just would rather have facts instead of supposition. Be Safe,
According to the author's office:
"From 1987 to 1996, nearly 2,200 American children 14
years of age and younger died from unintentional
shootings. For every child who dies after being shot,
an estimated 4 children are treated in U.S. hospitals
for nonfatal gunfire injuries. In 1995 and 1996, 8,832
Californians were killed as a result of gunfire.
According to data reported by hospitals to the
SB 489
Page
7
California Department of Health Services, there were
13,153 nonfatal injuries which required hospitalization
during the same period. About 10% of the injuries
during that period of time were determined to be the
result of unintentional shootings.
"Many of these injuries and deaths were the result of
unintentional shootings by users who thought that the
guns they fired were not loaded. Gun users are often
unaware that semiautomatic weapons can be fired when
their loading mechanism - the magazine - is removed or
emptied. A live round of ammunition may remain in the
chamber of the firearm after the magazine is removed.
When the trigger of a semiautomatic firearm with a live
round in its chamber is pulled, it will fire, even
though it does not have a magazine inserted, unless the
gun has a magazine disconnect mechanism.
"A 1997 survey by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun
Policy and Research and the National Opinion Research
Center found that almost 35% of respondents (who were
all adults) either did not know that a gun could be
fired, or believed that a gun could not be fired with
the magazine removed. 28% of those respondents lived
in households where guns were present. Undoubtedly,
many of those households also included children.
"Teaching children how to "safely handle guns" is not
the answer. Study after study has shown that gun
safety programs for children are ineffective and may
even increase the risk of unintentional firearm injury
to children. In two recent experiments (one by the
University of North Carolina and one by ABC News), guns
were hidden in rooms where children were playing. Both
studies found that children who previously had been
taught not to touch guns and to instead immediately
notify an adult are just as likely to handle guns than
those who have not been so instructed. Another study
released in July 2002 by the David and Lucille Packard
Foundation found that parents overestimate the ability
of their children to deal safely with guns. The report
found that the easiest way to save lives is to make
guns more "childproof" with built-in safety devices.
SB 489
Page
8
One such safety device is a chamber load indicator. A
chamber load indicator alerts the gun user when there
is a bullet in the firing chamber of the gun.
Currently, chamber load indicators are installed on
only about 11% all semiautomatic handguns. Chamber
load indicators are effective safety devices. A 1991
General Accounting Office (GAO) study of shootings in
10 randomly selected cities across the nation found
that 23% of the accidental shootings could have been
prevented by chamber load indicators. The GAO report
explained that '[a]lthough we cannot project to the
country as a whole, were there actually to be the same
ratio nationwide as in the 10 cities we studied, that
would mean there were approximately 157,600 such
injuries each year.'
"Magazine disconnect mechanisms prevent a semiautomatic
weapon from being fired when its ammunition magazine is
removed. They are passive safety devices, which
require no training on the part of the user to be
effective, which is particularly important to prevent
accidents involving children. Magazine disconnect
devices are currently installed on only about 14% of
the semiautomatic handguns on the market.
"Like chamber load indicators, magazine disconnect
mechanisms are effective safety devices. Although
there is no statistical data at this time about how
many deaths the devices could prevent, a 1999 report by
the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research
concluded that magazine disconnect mechanisms are
inexpensive and effective safety devices."
If I were a cop, I'd want the magazine disconnect, because there are many gun-grab incidents. Many cops get shot and killed when gun is grabbed from them during a struggle and end up dead. Dropping the magazine is a sure-fire way not to get shot and killed with your own firearm. See:
http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-...er-saves-mag-disconnects-examples-please.html
But I think the best justification and why the legislation was enacted in CA was to protect children, although there are plenty of reports of NDs by adults where they removed the magazine and ended up firing the weapon inadvertently.
As I said, I am all for them.
., It's not so bad at all
