A lot of things well covered that I hadn't thought of before... Why are safeties on guns and what about break open actions. I made another comment which hasn't been covered ...Muzzleloaders? Bill
wahoo,
safeties are not about safety, just a metal form of proof that masses are stupid and not to be trusted.
The analogy for the muzzleloader would be the half cock hammer notch.
Pray tell - you were not going to build a defence of hot chamber hunting on stumbeling around the woods with a primed stuffed and rammed ML, all tippytoed...