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From: hes@ccvr1.cc.ncsu.edu (Henry E. Schaffer)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: magazine safetys
Message-ID: <35420@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 10 Jun 91 22:09:51 GMT
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  Since one can give examples on both sides (where a magazine safety
would either prevent or cause harm) this is a classical trade-off
in design.  I saw a newspaper clipping of a case where a police 
officer stopped a car with armed criminals in it, and during his
approach they shot at him and hit his pistol in such a way as
to drop the magazine - and this was given as an example of why a
magazine safety is undesirable for police use.  (And this general
reason, including the capability of operating single shot when it
is necessary, is why many police agencies specify that their duty
arms not have a magazine safety.)

  However, because of the complications of semi-autos (with their
many operating controls and parts that the user must keep track of)
there is a chance of "pilot error", and the magazine safety is one
attempt at trying to foolproof the pistol.  For people without
enough training (and current experience/practice) it still is
probably the right thing - and I'll include many police officers
in this category.  I generally recommend to beginners that they 
start with a revolver for this kind of reason - there is much less
to keep track of, and the dangers are much more visible and obvious
to an untrained person.  For a properly trained/practiced person,
the tradeoff shifts, and the interference with the trigger action,
and the interference with operation in damaged magazine, etc.
situations becomes more important.  (Note that police agencies
vary greatly in how much and what types of training they offer or
require of their officers.  I heard of one which went to semi-autos
from revolvers by just issuing them to their officers, and by
contrast the NC Highway Patrol had several full days of training
including many performance tests of such things as clearing jams
and tactical reloading before their officers started carrying
semi-autos in place of revolvers.)

  Therefore I claim that this is not a "religious" issues, but one
of assessing the situation and achieving the correct trade-off.

--henry schaffer  n c state univ