From this incident in California:
The officer was struck with the bat as he walked out of his office and fell backward in a daze, Dyer said.
As the officer tried to draw his firearm, the weapon’s magazine clattered to the floor, Dyer said.
The student with the bat approached the officer again, the chief said, prompting the officer to reach for a second firearm attached to his ankle.
Magazine disconnect safeties do not belong on guns which you carry to use in self-defense. If the magazine drops during a scuffle, you want a gun that will go boom when the trigger is pulled. Absent that, not much beats the old New York reload.
Hat Tip to Dave Hardy.
This incident clearly shows the need to establish a database of woodgrain fingerprints, that can quickly be used to uniquely identify when a wooden object is used in such a heinous act. We also need to close the “Wood Show Loophole,” through which a vast majority of wood purchasers gain their wood *without* background checks from unlicensed wood dealers, some of whom have grown their wood in unregulated home businesses.
Clearly, wood is available everywhere and can be turned into a deadly bat with minimal effort and tools. I wouldn’t be surprised if the student had used a high-powered Assault Bat, capable of being swung multiple times quickly and with specially taped grips to decrease slippage and prevent fingerprints.
I propose starting two websites because of this tragedy: ProtestEasyWood.com to point out how easy it is to obtain these deadly weapons and StopTheWoodys.org to halt the efforts of the National Wood Association (NWA) to block common-sense wood control legislation that the vast majority of Americans support.
Join me and let’s put the BAT back in BATFE where it belongs rather than in the hands of children. Contact your legislator today!
And let’s not even get into the lightweight aluminum bats that can be spray-swung from the hip!
It took me a minute to understand what happened. You see, as a Glock owner, when I pull the trigger, it goes boom. From what I’ve read, you can remove the magazine, disassemble the trigger, melt the barrel, and it would still fire.
But seriously, my mind didn’t get what I was reading. In my world, I carry condition .5 – Loaded with safety engaged (and in a Glock, that means “don’t pull trigger”). If the magazine were to fall out, I’d still be able to get a shot off.
Then I remembered my Ruger Mark III 22/45 that won’t fire without the magazine (as well as a keyed safety, a loaded round indicator, and having to ask it nicely with sugar on top) and realized what you were talking about.
Which reminds me, I need an ankle holster.
Yeah, did you read the comment the one student made that she thought the cop used excessive force in defending his own life? Only from the mouths of blithering idiots.
Smith and Wesson semiautomatics won’t stop with the magazine disconnects, either. Irritating as can be.
Agreed on general principal.
Still being relatively new to the game (at least compared to some people), is there really ever a time when you would want a gun to be rendered non-functional by the removal of the magazine?
As I undestand it, the basic argument behind that “feature” is the whole, “what if the gun is taken away from you?”, with the premise being you can pop the magazine out as the gun leaves your possession… or you could follow a more rational, logical argument and use that time and effort to just maintain a better grip on your firearm and club the other moron with it…
I can’t imagine that’s a legitimate reason, Linoge. I would think that the train of thought would be closer to “if you can’t even get the magazine in correctly then the pistol shouldn’t fire”.
It simply is a fricken’ annoyance if you ask me.
Glad he had a backup on his ankle. I hope others follow suit. It’s hard to beat a gun (I prefer an airweight J-frame Smith) in an ankle holster when seated or flat on your back. Plus, you can reach it with either hand. All and all, a very handy thing to have.
Good thing he wasnt a teacher. It’d be a completely different story.
RedneckInNY, comments? at which site?
Couple of years ago I read an article in some magazine about cops saying they liked the feature because- as mentioned above- “If you’re about to lose your gun you hit the mag release, and then they can’t shoot you while you either draw a backup or get away.”
You can argue for it, but I still don’t like the idea.
*points at Firehand’s comment*
See, Robb, I am not the only one who seems to recall that ;). Not saying it is a godo rationale, by any stretch of the imagination, but that seems to be the argument for it.
Me, I want the gun to go off if there is a round in the chamber, regardless of further shots.