I’ll admit it – I used to avoid any gun with a manual safety like it was some kind of outdated relic. If a firearm had one, I dismissed it as slow, unnecessary, and even dangerous in a self-defense situation. I believed the argument that under stress, I’d forget to disengage it, fumble with my draw, or worse – fail to fire when I needed to the most. For years, I stuck to striker-fired pistols with no external safeties, convinced that simpler was always better.
But then something changed. Actually, a lot of things changed. Experience, training, and a deeper understanding of how firearms work completely flipped my perspective. Now, I not only appreciate manual safeties, but I actually prefer them on many of my carry and duty guns. Here’s why.
Muscle Memory Is Everything
One of the biggest reasons I resisted manual safeties was because I assumed they’d slow me down. I was wrong. The truth is, a properly trained shooter disengages a safety automatically, without thinking about it, just like they draw, aim, and pull the trigger.
When I first started incorporating manual safeties into my training, I realized something – I wasn’t actually training enough. I thought I was proficient because I could shoot well at the range, but I hadn’t put in enough repetition and muscle memory drills to make any of my movements instinctual.
It was a humbling realization. The more I practiced, the more I saw that disengaging a safety was just another part of the draw stroke, and it didn’t slow me down at all. If anything, it forced me to become more deliberate and precise in my training.
The Manual Safety Myth
There’s this idea that manual safeties somehow make a gun “less safe” because people might forget to disengage them under stress. I get where that comes from, but it doesn’t hold up in reality.
Think about this – every AR-15 has a manual safety, and nobody complains about that. People train with them, use them in combat, and instinctively disengage them before firing without issue. If manual safeties were inherently flawed, we wouldn’t see them on some of the most widely used firearms in military history.
The problem isn’t the safety itself. The problem is people not training with them properly.
A Safety Isn’t Slower—A Shooter Can Be
When I first started working manual safeties into my training, I made a point to time myself. I ran drills with my striker-fired pistols and my 1911, watching for differences in speed. At first, I was slightly slower with the safety-equipped gun, but after a few hundred repetitions, my times evened out.
What that told me was simple – it wasn’t the safety that was slowing me down, it was me. Once my thumb movement became automatic, the extra step became so fast it was irrelevant. Now, when I draw a gun with a manual safety, I don’t even think about it. My thumb sweeps down as the gun clears the holster, and by the time my sights are on target, the gun is ready to fire.
Manual Safeties Prevent Negligent Discharges
Here’s something else I realized – manual safeties actually make sense in real-world carry situations. In a perfect world, everyone keeps their finger off the trigger until they’re ready to fire. But the reality? Stress, adrenaline, and human error exist.
I’ve seen people have negligent discharges holstering their gun, something that a manual safety would have prevented. I’ve seen people grip their gun poorly under stress, leading to an unintentional trigger press.
A manual safety acts as a second layer of protection, not just from bad habits, but from those unpredictable, high-stress moments when fine motor skills fail.
The Military Has Used Them for a Century—For a Reason
The 1911 was the U.S. military’s standard sidearm for decades, and even today, many elite special forces units still choose it over modern striker-fired pistols. That alone should tell you something about the effectiveness of its design – including the manual safety.
If safeties were really such a liability, they would have been phased out of military handguns long before polymer-framed pistols became popular. But they weren’t. Instead, the military just trained soldiers to use them correctly.
It Forces Good Habits
One unexpected benefit I noticed when I started training with manual safeties? It made me a more disciplined shooter overall.
I had to be deliberate with every draw, ensuring that my grip, trigger discipline, and thumb movement were all locked in. That carried over to every gun I own, even the ones without a manual safety.
It’s easy to get complacent with a simple point-and-shoot gun. A manual safety forces you to develop better habits, which in turn make you a better shooter across the board.
Disengaging a Safety Is No Harder Than Racking a Slide
I always found it strange when people argued that they’d forget to disengage a manual safety in a life-or-death situation. Yet, these same people often carry pistols without a round chambered, meaning they’d have to rack the slide before firing.
If you can train yourself to rack a slide under stress, you can train yourself to sweep off a safety under stress. In fact, I’d argue that disengaging a thumb safety is easier and faster than chambering a round.
It Can Prevent a Gun Grab
Another major advantage of a manual safety? It can give you a split second of advantage in a gun grab scenario.
If someone wrestles your gun away, they might instinctively try to fire it without realizing the safety is engaged. That small moment of confusion could give you the opportunity to react, draw a backup weapon, or regain control.
This is especially relevant for law enforcement officers and open carriers, who are at higher risk of someone attempting to grab their firearm.
Manual Safeties Are About Choice, Not Restriction
At the end of the day, manual safeties don’t hinder a shooter who knows what they’re doing. They don’t make a gun “worse,” they don’t make it “slower,” and they certainly don’t make it “less effective.”
Instead, they give more control to the shooter, allowing for an added layer of security without compromising speed or performance.
Why I Changed My Mind
I used to think manual safeties were a crutch, something that only slowed down a shooter and introduced unnecessary complications. But the more I trained, the more I realized that argument is rooted in inexperience, not fact.
Today, I carry and train with both manual safety and non-safety-equipped firearms, and I’m comfortable with either. But if I had to choose? I’d take a gun with a manual safety every time.
Because when you’re truly proficient, a safety doesn’t hold you back. It gives you an extra edge.
Raised in a small Arizona town, Kevin grew up surrounded by rugged desert landscapes and a family of hunters. His background in competitive shooting and firearms training has made him an authority on self-defense and gun safety. A certified firearms instructor, Kevin teaches others how to properly handle and maintain their weapons, whether for hunting, home defense, or survival situations. His writing focuses on responsible gun ownership, marksmanship, and the role of firearms in personal preparedness.