Of those of you with concealed carry permits that carry a DAO automatic (which typically has no external/manual safety: Do you carry with one in the chamber and rely upon the mile long trigger pull & (sometimes) default internal safeties, or do you just think that I'm nuts for doing so, and plan to rack the slide in the event of emminent use? Please keep you replies kind (lol)......
Sparx, I don't believe it is possible to draw any meaningful conclusions from this poll in the abstract, without reference to one's occupation, where one lives, one's life style (or daily routine), one's level of training, and probably other factors as well.
I have a permit, and often have a handgun with me. I don't carry ANY kind of handgun with the chamber loaded. But you could say that I have a jaundiced perspective. Over the years I have dealt professionally with many (more than 100) gun accidents, a fair number of them fatal. The vast majority involved guns that were loaded when there was no immediate necessity to have a cartridge chambered. In the absence of a clear and present danger, the hypothetical disadvantage of carrying a pistol that is less than "instantly ready" is eclipsed by the safety risk that is very real and continuously present when a cartridge is chambered. In an undisciplined civilian context, a firearm with ammunition in the magazine is plenty dangerous enough; once the chamber is loaded, the risk is multiplied exponentially.
Go to any big gun show and watch the parade of wannabes with no real safety training and only the haziest mechanical understanding of their firearm who imagine themselves coolly imitating a Galco holster ad. Those are ADs waiting to happen.
There is an endless list of ways --by human or mechanical failure-- that a gun may fire when its owner (who may or may not be holding it or even be present at that instant) did not intend or anticipate it. Even modern pistols with the most advanced safety features are not immune. Their sear surfaces and safety features--automatic firing pin blocks, rebounding hammers, etc.-- are internal and their correct function may not be easily verified. The protection they offer is dependent upon the precise movement of tiny components powered by tiny springs, and if one fractures or malfunctions from wear, abuse, lack of maintenance, or incorrect assembly, the pistol is vulnerable. So many accidents occur when guns are dropped, for example, that I concluded long ago that any time you drop any gun with a round in the chamber and it does NOT fire, consider yourself a cat who has used up one of his lives.
In the end the issue is reduced to a risk/benefit analysis. I'd have a different response if I were a police officer whose daily job was to face potentially deadly trouble, or the owner of a liquor store in the inner city. But I'm not, nor a soldier in a war zone. I lead a fairly uneventful life in a rural area. Yes, there is always a possibility of an unexpected criminal encounter, but that risk is comparatively remote. What is not remote is the constant and present danger of a loaded firearm that in a brief moment of inattention or carelessness can produce a tragedy. I'm not much good at fast draw anyway, so on balance I have opted to compromise combat readiness for an additional margin of practical safety. I am more comfortable that way, and the gun is more forgiving: No pistol ever accidently fired with the chamber empty. I figure that if I stay alert and pay proper attention to my surroundings (which I learned from my cop friends), I may see trouble coming early enough to rack the slide. And if I don't, at least my epitaph will NOT be, "The damned cowboy shot himself."