Free For All Friday 2-20-2015: Safe guns and new holster designs…
There’s a reason why people move to Florida: it doesn’t get that cold here. It’s been said many times, however, that Jacksonville Florida is actually the southernmost city in Georgia. If you’ve never been here, you’re probably scratching your head but if you’ve spent even a couple of hours in this city you’d be laughing your head off right now. With that, I don’t really consider it to be “Florida” until you hit I-4 and beyond. While Florida has the stereotype of being sunny and perfect beach days all year around, the reality is that there’s only a small part of Florida where that is true. Here in Jax, it’s 27 degree as I type this. Someone from up north will read this and say “don’t you DARE complain about that!” and I won’t. While many of my follow Jacksonvillians will be wearing snow shoes and complaining about how freezing it is, I put on a warm jacket and will enjoy it while it lasts. I actually kind of prefer this weather and here is why: I can put on layer after layer and eventually get toasty warm and comfortable. When it’s scorching how out, however, I can only take off so many layers before I get arrested. Even if were to walk out in just a bathing suit (enjoy trying to bleach that mental image out of your mind), it would still be scorching hot. Nope, I like the cold. If I could get it year around without piles and piles of snow in the winter, I’d be happy as can be.
We got a few questions and a great suggestion for an article this week. I also got a bunch of questions asking some non-gun related stuff about me personally (favorite movie, food, etc) and some opinions on things like computer brands, programming languages and such. While I do tend to stray into some odd directions on a regular basis, I’ve been hesitant to answer these kind of questions publicly. I recognize the irony in saying that after writing a long paragraph about my feelings on colder weather. I’ll leave it to you all. Would you like a Free For All Friday where it’s a true free for all? It wouldn’t be a super-regular occurrence (like once a year at the most or something) but still.
Think it over. For now, gun stuff!
How many weapon designs are simply unsafe to own? -Lawrence M.
Pretty much every gun on the market is only as safe as its owner. That’s why myself and other gun teachers stress the safety rules so much. Without them, a Glock can be just as unsafe as being trapped in a room with a honey badger that’s hopped up on PCP. That’s not to say some guns don’t make you work harder than others. A large portion of antique guns, for example, didn’t have the focus on inherent safety that modern gun have. Even among newer guns, there are occasional design choices that can lead to some serious head scratching. The USFA Zip 22 pistol, for example is noteworthy for it’s definite “out of the box” design but also for the completely idiotic choice of having to place your hand in front of the muzzle in order to chamber a round. In the antique realm, there are quite a few rifles with floating firing pins where, when waiting to be fired, the pin rests against the primer of the round. Jostle it enough and there could be some issues (to put it mildly).
Lever action rifles also come to mind. Ever notice that the majority of lever action rifles are in calibers with flat tipped or at least very round and wide ammunition? This is because, while sitting the the tube, the bullets sit tip to primer. If the bullet was really pointy, it could cause a chain reaction that sets off every round.
In the end, saying that something like a Glock is the “safest gun on the market and is near impossible to fire accidentally” (as I’ve seen in many forums) is creating a false sense of security. If you assume the gun is super safe then there is a chance that you might cut a corner on your safety rules at some point. One of the tips I always give people I teach is to assume every safety on the gun is broken at all times. By all means, use the safeties but don’t rely on the safeties. The ultimate firearm safety device sits on top of our shoulders. Be smart about your guns.
What’s you opinion of these auto-loading holsters I see being advertised? You know, the ones where you push the gun down into the holster to quickly rack the slide as you draw? They look kinda cool, even though I’m a revolver guy. What say you, Mr. Noob? -Mike H.
Firearms enthusiasts, oddly, tend to be the biggest luddites in the world. I’ve even noticed it growing in my own mentality over time. Keep in mind, I love technology. The only thing I love more than technology is new technology. When it comes to guns, however, I tend to stick with the tried and true. I think it stems from the fact that, unlike my shiny new smartphone, my life and the lives of my friends or family might depend on the firearm. Did you know that NASA, when I worked there, wouldn’t allow anything that wasn’t newer than a 286 processor? Remember those old, dual 5 ½ in floppy powered monstrosities? If you’re too young, ask your parents. We were using Pentiums and such for programming and every day work but if it was going into space, it was a 286. This was because the 286 was tested and bullet proof. If you were going to spend billions of dollars to send something billions of miles away, you don’t want it overheating or getting a floating point error if it had to calculate too big of a number (a common problem with Pentiums at the time).
It’s the same thing here, really. I love the idea of these holsters and I love the out of the box thinking. It certainly solves a problem that some people have where they don’t like to carry pistols with one in the chamber. Until I see a large number of police forces, military or what have you using it successfully, I don’t think I want to put my trust in it yet. Stick with what we know works for now. When it comes to my life, I tend to let someone else do the beta testing on stuff like this.
Thanks for the questions!
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