New school Guns with "pre cocked hamer"

[Manzoli7]

I noticed may of the new pocket guns like the Kel Tec have a hamer that is not true double action or single action either. When a round is in the chamber it seems it is cocked about half way. Do you know why they are doing this. Why not have it true double action or completely cocked? I noticed the new smallest sig 9mm has a hamer that looks only cocked about 10% but it does not have a second strike capability. The new solo is striker fired single action. The new Taurus slim pocket gun has a completely cocked stiker. In the past it seems many people frowned on carrying cocked guns. Now they are using cocked guns for pocket guns.

Do you know how this is precieved in court? I know the Glock does not have a second strike capabilty but it has 3 safties built in and I have heard that even if it had no safties the striker is not pulled back far enough to have enough inertia to set of a round until the trigger is pulled back and it is cocked the rest of the way.

[Mas Ayoob]

It's been my experience that what courts look at -- when plaintiff's lawyers and prosecutors bring it up -- is the total pull weight of the trigger system...whether it's within factory spec for same...and whether it is "common custom and practice" to carry such guns with such triggers. See the sticky on 3.5 pound Glock triggers in the concealed carry session for a detailed (and sprited!) discussion.

I wouldn't worry about any of the guns you mention. As I sit at the keyboard now, I'm wearing a Glock 31. Its mechanism is partially pre-cocked (an NYPD manual for the Glock 19 once described the Glock mechanism as "half-cocked"), but it also has an NY-1 trigger spring assembly with 5.5 lb connector for a total pull weight of about eight pounds. I find it very manageable, and it would be damn near impossible for an unscrupulous lawyer or a prostitute expert witness to convince a jury that it was a dangerous trigger system.

best,
Mas

[Manzoli7]

I did not know that they look at the triger pull weight to try to make an issue out of it as oposed to makeing an issue out of the style of mechanical inards that are in the gun.