A buddy installed some stupid trigger upgrade shortly after he bought his G17 some time ago. The upgrade is beginning to “act up” as he put it, and now he’s considering a performance trigger to fix the issue.
As of right now he s not a CCW holder but plans on it, and likely to carry the 17.
Are there any legal implications to using an aftermarket trigger in a CCW? What would his best option be for replacing it?
I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve often heard it said that any kind of a performance upgrade, particularly a lighter trigger, will give a prosecuting attorney all kinds of leverage to paint the gun owner as a trigger-happy out-for-blood vigilante, in the event of a defensive shooting. The conventional wisdom is to leave a carry gun unmodified, or at the least, don’t lighten the trigger!
Thinking about it, I’ve got a bunch of handguns I’ve modified, tweaked, accurized, and generally improved. The only two I’ve never changed from box-stock factory configuration are the two in my carry rotation.
I’ve heard that, but I don’t know if it holds water.
Personally, I don’t hate Glock factory triggers that bad, and use them in my carry guns.
It also gives me peace of mind for reliability.
I would get rid of the aftermarket trigger and either put the stock trigger back in, or the GPT, if you need a trigger “upgrade”. Personally, I don’t modify my carry guns.
From a legal perspective, I’m not aware of anything that prevents you from using a modified gun in any way. HOWEVER, if you’re involved in a shooting, you will be up against a lawyer who will attempt to make you look reckless and irresponsible, for not only carrying a pistol in public, but also modifying a pistol that could make it more deadly.
At the end of the day, you will need to be able to explain to a jury of your peers. The broad term of peers, not fellow gun owners. In the state of New Jersey, most likely you’re trying to make non-gun owners not only understand why you would carry a gun, but why you would modify it.
In the words of the great Massad Ayoob… if you’re modifying a gun, you need to remember CYA. Can You Articulate why you made the change? In my eyes, with so many guns on the market, instead of modifying one to be carried, I would rather find a different gun.
But if it is modified, I’d personally keep it in line with NIJ Standard 0112-03. If nothing else, you can state that you are carrying a gun that meets all standards set forth by the National Institute of Justice, and if it’s good enough for them, it should suffice for a civilian.
Define “acting up”
What brand/model aftermarket trigger?
IANAL - You’ll have to defend your action in court - no matter what you do. Stock trigger or aftermarket, it doesn’t matter.
The only time I can see a modified gun being given extra gravitas is in an accidental shooting or of you shot someone you didn’t intend to shoot or if your defense is “the gun went off”.
I didn’t get much out of him beyond the trigger was not pulling with the same consistency. FWIW, he is running a Ghost Inc aftermarket trigger kit.
He’s already decided on replacing the Ghost trigger with a Glock Performance kit.
I dont think a prosecutor could just infer to a jury that your modified trigger has some malicious intent that negates a persons ability to defend themselves without showing some specific content on how the person believed these modifications would help them commit a crime.
Would adding a laser be any different? A better grip? Extended mag?
Surprising - Ghost makes good stuff that doesn’t affect the inherent safety of the pistol. They are the only aftermarket connectors I use.
I bet he just needs a good detail cleaning:
Rule of thumb would be to carry stock. It works so reliably as is, he should be practicing with that. Additionally let’s say there’s a self defense incident the firearm would be stored for evidence and who knows when (read if) you’ll ever get it back? do you want to lodge extra dollars into something that works right out of the box?
I will pass this on, but once he gets it in his mind that something isn’t just the way he likes it, it’s gone.
That’s not really a rule of thumb. That’s your opinion.
If you are looking at your carry gun as an investment you can’t afford to lose, that’s on you, but it’s certainly not universal. I want the most capable gun I can shoot well - otherwise, I’d just carry a High-Point. My life is worth a $100 trigger, don’t know about yours.
The gun carried for self defense is designed to be lost to evidence in the event you have to use it. That’s the cost of doing business. Make peace with that now.
The last thing I care about is the possibility that a prosecutor will look the the internals of my pistol and try to make some outlandish statement about malicious intent.
That’s a fairy tale created by lawyers to gin up business.
Carry what you shoot best.
Late to the party, but here’s my opinion…
If you can explain why the modification was done and that reason isn’t malicious, you don’t need to worry.
eg. I have a Cajun trigger kit in my P-01 because it makes it easier to shoot the gun accurately for me. The reason is that if I need to use it, I want to hit my intended target, and not anything else because I missed. I can also show that it is not detrimental because I use that gun at matches sometimes. In December I shot the Old Bridge PPC match with it and got my personal best score of 564 x 600.
Adding non functional things, like maybe a Punisher logo, could be used by the prosecutor to try to create an argument for your state of mind prior to the shooting. I wouldn’t advise that.
If you lighten the trigger pull, you are going to make your attorney’s life difficult if you ever claim that you fired by accident. However, claiming that you fired by accident isn’t going to get you a not-guilty verdict. It may downgrade your charge from murder to manslaughter, maybe.
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