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It goes to the intent of the manufacturer that installed the lock on the gun.
The lock was meant to disable the firearm when not in use, and only this.
It goes almost without saying the lock was engineered to be unlocked when in the weapon is in service. This would include
while in carry but not drawn.
Given a trial in which the issue is raised, there will be no better expert witness to testify to the above than the manufacturer itself in order to establish the defendant use the gun as designed, that is, carried in the unlocked position and fired from same.
Since being unlocked is the equivalent of having no lock at all, whether the lock has been removed or one was not factory installed, the fact a gun was unlocked at the time of a shooting is completely immaterial.
Should the defendant be convicted on this point of manifest error, the verdict will eventually be overturned on appeal.
That's comforting, huh?
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