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Originally Posted by ranburr
...the mag disconnect has nothing to do with bad guys. The French military was the initial force behind the development of the Hi Power. The mag disconnect (not even called a safety) was added at their request...
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That's correct. The magazine disconnect was part of the original French specifications for the pistol the ultimately became the P35 (BHP). It's interesting that during the some 15 year development period, and even after it became apparent the the French weren't interested, FN retained the magazine disconnect. Things would have been so much simpler if they had just quietly dropped it.
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Originally Posted by ranburr
...Before entering the arms room, they would rack the slide and then drop the magazine instead of reverse order. When they stuck the pistol in the clearance barrel, they got a bang instead of a click. The mag disconnect on the M9 remedies this lack of training. That is the only thing it is good for....
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And a highly publicized case of an ND under such circumstances resulting in the death of a child is a main reason California came to require a magazine disconnect on pistols newly being added to the "approved" list.
In any case, it appears that there are some so called "experts" who would testify that the magazine disconnect is a useful safety feature. In general, a "battle of experts" is undesirable, especially when, as here, the prosecution's expert is likely to say things that appeal to the intuitive sense of members of the jury unsophisticated about guns that they are horribly dangerous infernal contraptions.