Home› Main Category› Personal Defense
Diver43
Senior MemberPosts: 12,193 Senior Member
After market parts

We have all heard the war stories about anti gun or over zealous prosecutors going after the victin of a bad guy in a justifiable shoot. Don't use reloads etc. But what about after market triggers, removing magazine disconnects, upgraded springs and such? The list of what can be done to a HD AR are endless. Do people worry for no reason or is it a legitimate concern?
Logistics cannot win a war, but its absence or inadequacy can cause defeat. FM100-5
Replies
Never mind the lawyers. How much of this CRAP actually helps the gun run better? Most of it doesn't, and a lot of trigger upgrades can compromise reliability, safety, or both.
I'm not saying "don't do it". I'm saying, "look REALLY hard at WHY you're doing it", and be able to explain it in a more articulate way than "the glossy magazine ad made me drool".
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
The fact that a person has prepared carefully for the likelihood of having to fight for his life does not change the actual facts, unless the system is completely turned upside down and subject to a media circus. Yes, it can happen, and it is more likely to happen some places than others. But if a person believes that a tweak or two on his weapon or ammo makes him more likely to be successful in a fight for his life, he should take advantage and survive. As far as I can tell, any time the actual equipment used comes into play, it is used to add a small amount of extra weight to some other, more compelling evidence of wrongdoing.
Jerry
(Edited to add darkend part.)
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
:that:
Iffin you live in a Crap Hole like that, by all means come to a place that still believes in Liberty!
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
I've already done that. I'm just saying that there is little to no compelling evidence that lawyers win by attacking the equipment being used by the good guy, when all the rest of the evidence supports his story...wherever it happens.
Jerry
Yeah for the most part I agree, but never underestimate a Lawyer (OR Prosecuter{or Federal Judge}) in New York, California( Especially San Francisco), OR Chicago. There's a good chance they will be pinko livered Antis with a KING SIZE agenda!!!
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
That is why I like to leave factory stock options alone in a CCW sidearm, as a precaution in the very remote chance I ever did have to defend myself in Court, my ammo choice being stock LE use ammo, so there is precedence as far as data and safety.
You would have the most trouble in a Negligent discharge situation or any harmful or wrongful act resulting from or occuring after an intentional modification of a firearm resulting in injury or death of another person, if the modification did not result from accidental or incidental damage.
So if you accidentally shoot someone at a range, and you modified the trigger to a very light weight, if you are sued, it could be very bad if you are found negligent.
And this could happen in any State.
Many free states have laws preventing you from being sued if there are no criminal charges (or guilt) in a defensive shooting. George Zimmerman was a famous example of that.
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and politician
If I need it to defend myself and it does the job it is how it should be. I think worrying about stuff like that is like worrying about getting prosecuted after an accident for aftermarket tires and wheels on your vehicle when the accident wasn't even your fault!
AKA: Former Founding Member
Each person will decide what is best for their needs, I simply try to keep things simple, it works best for me, and I like success myself, and so far, I have had success in my personal defense encounters.
I believe there's one case where a prosecutor made a deal about a fellow having removed a mag disconnect in a handgun a man had. It wasn't the pistol in question in the shooting, but the prosecutor was trying to show a pattern of recklessness. The shooting was ruled justifiable due to self defense.
There's two cases where people got in trouble for handloads. One was a police officer, and he was acquitted. Another was a man whose wife committed suicide, and I believe he went to jail. Further examination of the situation does cast doubt on the man.
There may be one or two situations where aftermarket parts were an issue.
We're talking about maybe a half a dozen cases. Since a SD shooting is such a low probability situation, the chances of you getting into those sorts of situations with a modified gun or ammo are really pretty low to begin with. It's probably like winning the lottery and getting hit by an asteroid in the same day. I'd really not worry about it, but instead worry that I put myself in a situation where an honorable prosecutor could send me away for. In other words, I'd be more more concerned that the shoot was "righteous" than that some huckster prosecutor was looking to pad his resume.
http://www.boiseshooters.com/index.php?topic=1883.0
If the shooting is justified, doesn't matter how light the trigger pull is. There is no law I know of that regulates trigger pull. I'm not a lawyer, however, and I may be wrong.
Even as a LEO, you have to present your gun for inspection......
Jerry
I am sure it has come out in one way or another a few times, but not worth a worry.
When I was doing supplemental training for the NYPD, the revolvers were DA, the main problem was many officers were cocking hammers then shooting the suspect in the back prior to handcuffing / holstering the revolver, then along came the DAO revolvers with a 16 pound trigger that Teach spoke of, requiring 2 men and a boy to pull !
Finally, spring kits that lowered trigger pull to a normal level were approved, making a great difference, lots of women just had trouble with those special order S&Ws.
Those S&W DAO models special ordered from S&W...... not some abstract Lew Horton creations.
including misc revolvers, Ruger among others not depicted....