After unknowingly having the safety on my Marlin 45-70 get bumped on and having it not fire when I was a the range I had my gun smith remove it, did it to two of them. I detest the cross bolt safeties on lever guns. When I look hard at the chances of me injuring some one with that gun from a negligent discharge, I would rather run the risk of a bottom feeding lawyer suing me over that then one of our bears closing fast and having the rifle go click. If it was really a hazard to have a lever gun with out a safety they would all have them. The tang safeties do not seem as easy to bump on to me.
Negligent discharges are the fodder for law suits and hard to defend against. I also have grown weary of so many negligent discharges being referred to as accidents. Nothing is accidental about pressing a trigger, whether you meant to or not. But, incompetence, stupidly, ignorance, lack of training and a lousy mind set are a breeding ground for negligent discharges. A justifiable intentional pressing of the trigger is easier to defend.
I also had the magazine safety on my Browning Hi Power removed long ago after reading what a judge from California who was also a shooter said. He stated he had never seen a law suit because some one removed a magazine safety from a Hi Power or any other semi auto pistol and he removed his magazine safety, same with lever guns, even in California! But, he was aware of several law suits from negligent discharges.
One thing is for sure, it is and individual choice and so far none of my guns have or will go off with out a trigger press and I have been shooting for well over 60 years.
