Chambered round indicators
This feature is located on the top or side of the slide to inform the user of a semiautomatic pistol whether a round is in position to be fired.
And what do they tell you? That's it's not safe to pull the trigger? And conversely, that it is safe to pull the trigger if you don't see the indicator? This encourages bad behavior. Never pull the trigger unless (a) you want to fire the gun or (b) you have visually inspected the chamber and the gun is pointed in a safe direction.
Magazine release safeties
Magazine-disconnect features block the gun from firing when the magazine has been taken out.
Possibly helpful for those who haven't been trained to drop the magazine before clearing the chamber, but also potentially rendering the pistol inoperable at a time of dire need.
Heavier trigger pulls
Guns with “light” pulls are more likely to fire when dropped, or when they snag on a piece of clothing.
The articles refers to gun advocates "believing that they make guns less accurate." It is not a matter of belief: a heavier trigger pull makes it harder to fire the gun accurately. Anyone with any shooting experience knows this, and it can be easily demonstrated to neophytes. The NYPD-mandated 11-pound Glock trigger is largely responsible for the high number of bystanders hit in recent police shootings in NY.
Grip safeties
Most handguns have a manual safety — a switch, button, or lever that must be disengaged to allow the gun to fire, even when a round is chambered. But some models also have a grip safety: a lever on the rear of the gun that must be squeezed with the flesh just below the shooter’s thumb to allow the gun to fire.
Grip safeties provide a redundant level of safety that may be advisable in a single-action-only handgun that is meant to be carried with the hammer cocked. For double-action-only handguns or double/single-action, they are unnecessary. They do not provide much in the way of child-proofing, since any child that could grip the gun in such a way as to be able to shoot it could also depress the grip safety.
Firing pin blocks
Firing pin blocks prevent a gun’s hammer from striking the pin unless the trigger is pulled to move the block out of the way.
Virtually all modern handguns already have this feature.
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