Round in the Chamber

“Why is your gun cocked?”

“Excuse me?”

“Your gun… you have it cocked.”

“Oh yes… this is a 1911.  We carry it cocked and locked.”

“Oh… so… does that mean you have a round in the chamber?”

“Yes.  If I didn’t there would be no need to have in this condition.”

“So there is a round in there right now?”

“Yes there is.”

“Holly Crap!  Isn’t that dangerous?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well.. if the hammer comes down won’t the gun go off?”

“Well, let’s think about that.  There are three things preventing the hammer from coming down.  First I have a thumb safety that needs to be disengaged prior to the firing, I also have a tang safety that needs to be depressed at the same time that the trigger is activated.  Finally… and most importantly the gun is in the holster.  A holstered gun is by definition a safe gun.”

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“Yeah, but there is a friggen bullet in the chamber right now!”

“Hmmm… I see your point.  What gun do you normally carry.”

“I have a Glock 19 on my permit, and a Ruger revolver.”

“I assume you don’t have a round in the chamber on your Glock?”

“No way.  There are no safeties on the Glock.  I keep the magazine loaded, but the first thing I do when I draw is rack the slide.”

“What do you do when you carry the revolver.”

“What do you mean?”

“How many rounds do you carry in the revolver?”

“Five.”

“One round in each chamber?”

“Well yeah.”

“So you carry your revolver in the same condition that I carry my 1911, except there are no safeties on the revolver.”

“Well, yeah… I guess I never thought about it, but it is a revolver.”

“Mine is a 1911.”

“But, it takes a lot of strength to pull the trigger on my revolver.  That is my safety.”

“Actually it takes even more strength to press the 1911 trigger threw non-disengaged safeties.”

“Well, I see your point, but I still don’t feel comfortable carrying with a round in the chamber.”

“I understand, but what is the purpose of carrying a gun.”

“To survive a violent encounter.”

“What if I told you that chambering a round slowed you down to such an extent that your assailant would be able to get on top of you, stab you and take your gun.  What if the statistical probability of surviving that violent encounter with what is essentially a non-loaded gun made the carrying of that firearm irrelevant.”

“Yeah, I know… i’ve seen the Youtube videos that try to prove that point, but I still cannot wrap my head around carrying like that.”

“No, I get it.  I find it very difficult to appendix carry, for what is basically the same reason.  I know that a holstered gun is a safe gun, but still there is something about having a gun pointed at your genitals that is a little off putting for me.  For many they don’t have this psychological problem, but for me I do.”

“I carry my revolver appendix quite often.”

“Really?  So, let me get this straight… you are afraid to carry a semi automatic with a round in the chamber for fear that it ‘might go off’” but you have no problem carrying a revolver with a round in the chamber pointed permanently at your groin?”

“Yeah.. it does seem kinda silly.”

“Well, perhaps not silly, but not logically consistent.  What we do must be governed by logic not emotions.”

“I see your point.  Still…. you really feel comfortable walking around with that 1911 loaded?”

(Sigh)