This comment just came in on an old post where no one would see it, but it raises a good point:
What’s the angst about a magazine safety? It can be a lifesaver in a gun snatch and if little ones end up getting hold of the gun. (Please don’t preach to me about training/safes/responsibility. I know ‘em all and have taken proper precautions with my 2-year old. Nevertheless, kids will be kids and the mag safety could prevent tragedy.)
John Farnham covered this topic perfectly in his Quips, and I hope he’ll forgive the lengthy quotation:
(6) Magazine Safety. Worse than merely useless, magazine safeties are death traps! Formidable liability negates any conjectured “safety” benefit of this device. The presumed advantage is that a grip safety sterilizes the pistol when the magazine is removed. However, often the magazine in a pistol that is being carried for defensive purposes is inadvertently unseated. Under these circumstances, the pistol will not fire and the owner doesn’t know it and won’t find out until the pistol is desperately needed to defend his life. In a worst case, the unseated magazine may, unnoticed, fall free from the pistol and thus not be immediately available for reseating. In addition, the pistol is unavoidably inoperable during much of the reloading process, and when magazines are damaged or unavailable, the pistol becomes completely useless. Worst of all, dependence on a magazine safety can be used to excuse sloppy and unsafe gun handling and storage. Storing an unsecured pistol with a round chambered is unsafe and improper, whether the pistol is equipped with a magazine safety or not.
And regarding the SR9’s magazine safety in particular:
It is the worst of the worst! With the magazine removed, the trigger functions normally, dropping the hammer, but the gun is prevented from firing. (…) It simply blocks the firing pin! Upon hearing a “click,” instead of a “bang,” the shooter knows little, because the pistol has told him little. Chamber might be empty. Might be a dud round. Magazine may be unlocked.
Throw in the fact that the gun can be damaged by dry-firing without a magazine in place and you have one really ill-designed “feature.”
I’d add that while the commenter is correct that a magazine safety “can be a lifesaver in a gun snatch,” that presumes that you’ve trained to dump the magazine in such a situation, AND that the magazine reliably drops free, AND that you have the presence of mind to actually hit the mag release while engaging in a physical struggle… Oh, and if you win the struggle, congratulations, you’ve just won a gun you can’t shoot.
