One day, I hope to achieve the level of 100% attention to multiple things and events at one time. I hope to be perfect and anticipate someone grabbing my handgun as I draw or reholster. I hope I never experience a piece of broken kydex or debris in my holster, or a twig I didn't see in the dark snag the trigger on my drawn handgun or rifle. And I hope the stress of a circumstance that causes me to actually draw a gun (other than the last time, which was in Vietnam a long time ago) and use it, and causes my focus to be momentarily broken, doesn't compromise safety.
Of course, I know I'll not achieve those things 100%, so instead, I just hope that I'll not ever develop the "smarter than thou" self image that causes me to make smart alec and unnecessary replies on Internet forums.
Like the U.S. military for over a hundred years, I recognize that with enough people and enough time, everything that can be done wrong will be done wrong. Therefore the belt and braces approach to safety that I prefer, is the one I learned from the U.S. Army, and that has served that organization well for a very long time. I don't expect to ever make a mistake in handling a handgun, rifle, or shotgun, or have an outside force cause the trigger to be pulled on a gun I am carrying, but then neither did, I imagine, the 120-and-counting U.S. law enforcement officers whose Glocks have shot them so far (plus a couple in LAPD shot in the last year by their new M&P handguns, purchased without the available thumb safety.)
I consider FOR ME a thumb safety, as employed by S&W, Ruger, FN, and others, to be a valuable secondary (after my own brain) precaution. A grip safety is my second favorite, as used by Springfield Armory in its XD/XDM line of striker fired pistols. Then of course, there is the 1911, which incorporates both a thumb safety and a grip safety. I own both an XDM-45 and a Colt XSE, so I am familiar with both of those systems. I prefer a positive safety on a gun. You may not.
