Because appendix carry has its good points.
I read your points and appreciate your having the type of mindset to explore them further. Perhaps we all should do so in depth before we chamber the first round.
In the end, though heading out the door half-cocked is foolish. Heading out the door unloaded is asinine. The regulators made CA folks out to be asinine fools, when the ca folks should have called them on the carpets. They didn't. Instead, they took what they could get, and what they got was nonsense. Not they have nothing.
Not progress, in my book.
I understand the absolute adherence to The Four Rules as a sure way to try and reduce the risk of negligent discharges
I don't!!! When have you EVER seen a "negligent discharge?" In 23 years of both OC and CC, as well as 20 years on the job, throughout the entire world (SA, NA, Asia, SWA, EU, AF, you name it), I've NEVER seen a "negligent discharge." The very idea of enacting a law preventing 1 ND in the wake of perhaps dozens of real-world incidents requiring AOC is utterly, HUA NEGLIGENT.
But can you prove to me that all the guns in your safe are not pointing at something you do not want to destroy?
Can you prove to me that some jerk won't drive off the street and plow us both through the back room wall?
What about the folks who carry anyewhere higher than ground level - especially if they carry inside a building? Or how about most of the folks out there whose holsters are canted from the vertical? Do I really need to go on?
No, and I get your point. Should have know better. You were playing the devil's advocate. I stand corrected, having observed you point out the obvious, with all sublime.
Carrying a firearm is an inherently risky business. Manufacturers have tried to remove the risks from mechanical failure. Humans can remove most of the rest of the risk just by keeping their booger hooks off the bang switch until they want the thing to work as intended. Keeping the thing in a secure holster goes a long way towards keeping the booger hook off the bang switch.
My reasoning behind why a properly holstered firearm is the least of a PD's worries.
But since the object of carrying a firearm is to be able to have one handy to use when you need to use it, safely carrying in a manner that makes it easy to use makes sense.
I think a properly-holstered firearm makes sense. I don't think an in-the-waist solution makes much sense. They're not trying to conceal it from the public at large by that measure. They're trying to conceal it from the target of their criminal robbery.
Huge difference.