Guns With External Safeties: Are They Necessary For Concealed Carry?

By James England

Handgun manufacturers often produce a handgun with an optional external safety. This is mostly for legal reasons as a few states are highly restrictive about what handguns its citizens can buy. Most times when this happens, a handgun manufacturer will also produce that same model of pistol without an external safety.

Another reason for external safeties is the consumer. Some consumers prefer to have a manual external safety. The consumer may seek out an external safety selector switch for a particular model of handgun. I’ve even heard of some gun owners choosing one pistol over another because of the presence (or lack thereof) of an external safety selector switch.

I don’t believe Glock produces any of its pistols with an external safety. Companies like Ruger and Smith & Wesson generally do have a model that features an external safety for each major line of their pistols. Springfield Armory’s XD Mod series features a lever on the handguard. By grasping the pistol, your hand squeezes the lever and this allows the gun to fire.

The Beretta 92FS, for example, has a selector switch that you have to flip in order for the gun to fire.

Q: Are external safeties required by law?

A: States like Massachusetts …Read the Rest

Source:: Concealed Nation