Does modifying the trigger really cause legal problems?

[John_Wayne777]

I'm just wondering if modifying the trigger on a carry weapon can cause extra legal problems.

To this date I have yet to see any evidence that a good shoot has been turned into a bad shoot because of trigger pull.

If the corpse with your bullets in his chest was shot because he was coming at you with a bloody machette he just used to cleave open the skull of poor old Widow Johnson next door, it's highly unlikely that anyone will give a damn what you shot him with.

If, on the other hand, you have a moment of stupidity and launch a round into poor Widow Johnson's noggin and claim it was an accident, well...your 1/2 pound trigger modification on your BabySlayer 9000 automatic rifle/handgun with the skull logo and the big bayonet might well become an issue.

I've heard the argument that with adrenaline trigger pull doesn't matter.

I wouldn't go that far. Under the stress of a gunfight the trigger isn't likely to feel as heavy as it does when you're shooting on a square range. The physics of the trigger won't change, however, so a ridiculously heavy trigger will encourage trigger snatch, which causes misses.

But, it still seems that I would be more accurate with a better trigger pull.

A nice crisp trigger can indeed aid in accuracy...but real accuracy is the result of proper trigger manipulation and not anticipating the gun going boom. The stock M&P trigger (once it breaks in a bit) is plenty good from an accuracy perspective.

Wouldn't that be better? I'm responsible for where my bullets go regardless of how the gun is set up.

Ah, grasshoppa....you have attained enlightenment. Ultimately what matters is where your bullets end up. If they ended up in a person who had the means to harm you, the opportunity to harm you, and manifested intent to harm you then your troubles resulting from that shoot (even using the BabySlayer 9000) will be on the very low end of the scale of suck. If your bullets end up in poor Widow Johnson's brain stem, the fact that you were using a bone stock weapon exactly like the PD in your area uses probably won't be much help.

EDIT --

COULD a lawyer potentially make an issue of the highly modified death machine you were carrying when you mercilessly gunned down poor little Billy who was only approaching you at the ATM with a Hi-Point because he was really a good boy just having a bit of trouble in his life before you wantonly ended it? Sure. He could try.

Would he succeed? Anything is possible. Juries can sometimes be stupid. Hopefully if it gets to that point, however, you have hired a lawyer who has an IQ north of 60 that can deal with those sorts of issues easily.

I personally carry a firearm with a modified trigger almost every day. I have never had cause to shoot anyone with it. If tomorrow I'm forced to do so, the trigger will be the least of my worries. My trigger is modified, yes...but it's within the same weight range as the trigger on most police firearms. If some detective with a baby Glock on his hip wants to get all inquisitive about the 4.5-5 pound trigger on my M&P I can probably derail that stuff pretty fast by pointing out the 5.5 pound trigger on his weapon.