LEO's, Lawyers, and a Modified Trigger!

MontyCop05 · March 24, 2012, 09:18 AM

Recently picked up a Ruger LC9. This is going to be my new off duty carry for the foreseeable future. Love the gun. Size, thinness, even don't mind the extra safeties. Trouble is the trigger is not that much to my liking. Very heavy, long, and a long reset to boot. I've already put 500 rounds through it, and have been dry firing it a lot on a daily basis. It has smoothed out a bit, and I'm getting more used to it, however I see the Galloway mods that folks have done to theirs and I really want to install it to make my LC9 perfect (for me). The issue I'm having is the thought in the back of my head, if I ever need to use it, some soulless defense lawyer is going to try and hang me if he catches wind of a modified trigger. Here in NJ, when a LEO gets involved in a shooting, on or off duty, the weapon used immediately goes to the NJ State Police for a full forensic examination. I know Massad Ayoob has touched on this issue before and warns against "hair triggers" on carry guns. But I'm pretty sure this wouldn't be considered such. The Galloway trigger bar/hammer mod just shortens the trigger pull and reset. It doesn't aim to reduce the weight of the pull. Although I'm told it does a wee bit. Thoughts?

**Frank Ettin** · March 24, 2012, 11:56 AM

This topic has been discussed some in the past. The issues of primary concern tend to be extremely light triggers or disabling of safety devices. But some modifications, such as smoothing out a trigger while retaining a reasonable "service" weight pull, improved sights, a new finish, etc., are probably pretty benign.

I kind of summarized my overall perspective in this post, in which I say the following:

Quote:

...But other gun modifications, like full length guide rods, better sights, and the like, are probably benign and shouldn't be a problem. But it wouldn't hurt to have a good and non-technical explanation for why you did something...

More discussion of the subject generally may be found in the following threads:

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=393404

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=464518

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=481756

Another consideration for you, as an LEO, is whether your agency has any applicable rules relating to the use by officers of modified firearms. We've run into such in the past.

March 24, 2012, 09:18 AM	#1
MontyCop05 Senior Member Join Date: October 2, 2005 Location: NJ Posts: 370	LEO's, Lawyers, and a Modified Trigger! Recently picked up a Ruger LC9. This is going to be my new off duty carry for the foreseeable future. Love the gun. Size, thinness, even don't mind the extra safeties. Trouble is the trigger is not that much to my liking. Very heavy, long, and a long reset to boot. I've already put 500 rounds through it, and have been dry firing it a lot on a daily basis. It has smoothed out a bit, and I'm getting more used to it, however I see the Galloway mods that folks have done to theirs and I really want to install it to make my LC9 perfect (for me). The issue I'm having is the thought in the back of my head, if I ever need to use it, some soulless defense lawyer is going to try and hang me if he catches wind of a modified trigger. Here in NJ, when a LEO gets involved in a shooting, on or off duty, the weapon used immediately goes to the NJ State Police for a full forensic examination. I know Massad Ayoob has touched on this issue before and warns against "hair triggers" on carry guns. But I'm pretty sure this wouldn't be considered such. The Galloway trigger bar/hammer mod just shortens the trigger pull and reset. It doesn't aim to reduce the weight of the pull. Although I'm told it does a wee bit. Thoughts? Last edited by Frank Ettin; March 24, 2012 at 11:25 AM. Reason: language