Among the pre-written Demands For Government Action is a perennial favorite: we should require loaded-chamber indicators on all guns!
Um.
Do the people who keep proposing this have any clue at all what they're talking about*?
A loaded-chamber indicator is a subtle little thing, intended to provide a properly-trained user with reassurance that the weapon is indeed ready to go bang when needed.
It's not something that shouts out to the unaware, "DANGER! This gun is loaded!**" (Imagine a revolver, with six such voices calling out simultaneously. Or asynchronously.)
If you've had appropriate training, and are familiar with the particular weapon, the loaded-chamber indicator is useful, in specific circumstances... but it does not in any way prevent negligent discharges.
If you aren't proficient with the weapon in question, the loaded-chamber indicator is of no use whatsoever.
And... this is now being pushed in response to intentional misuse of a weapon. ("If only he'd known it was loaded! Maybe then he wouldn't have kept on pointing it at people, one after another, and pulling the trigger!")
* No.
** Though, if they did work like that, it could alert bystanders, after the fashion of belling the cat. It would also make life more interesting for cops, what with their guns constantly shouting out a warning to evildoers.
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