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Aware of the safety issues related to the storage of firearms, Sturm, Ruger & Co. include a safety lock with most of their products.

Devices and Programs

We are at a point in time when shooting accidents are occurring at the lowest rate they have been for many years. There are several reasons for this welcome decline. First, currently produced rifles and pistols are manufactured with more safety features than ever before. Let me cite just one example. Older single-action revolvers can fire accidentally if dropped or the hammer is struck a blow because in some cases the firing pin is an integral part of the hammer and it rests against a cartridge. In other models, the firing pin is held permanently in the frame, but the hammer rests against the firing pin. In either of these types of single-action revolvers, the firing pin may be held away from the cartridge by a notch on the hammer (a so-called safety notch). That safety notch may not be adequate to keep the firing pin from striking the cartridge if a substantial blow to the hammer occurs. In order to carry such a revolver safely, it is necessary to keep an empty chamber in front of the firing pin. Old timers knew this and their revolvers were treated as “five shooters” rather than “six shooters.”