My self defense pistol has no sights, no bells and no whistles as I'm not a LEO or serviceman anymore and if I can't run, hide or evade a threat it will IMHO and experience become a fast point and shoot CQB sort of last resort engagement . With the 1911 I am faster and my use of it over the years has made it "memory-matic" for me while under stress load of fear and confusion. My continued weekly practice and competition in IDPA with that single sidearm keeps that memory alive and fuctioning which I hope will be my condition afterwards if I'm ever required to use it in civilian life as a last resort. Lord forbid.....
Ya'll stay safe !
I would say with an auto, it MUST be kept in the same condition ALL the time, to remove that element of doubt under great stress.
And problems also come in if people shoot a great variety of pistol types regularly: under crisis threat you may screw up which gun protocal is right, and not get the safety off etc. It sounds incredible, but it really happens when people go from "happy camper" to "I've been stabbed" in .01 second. Long ago a guy at ST6 died doing a CQB room entry, shot in the kidney frim behind with 9mm by his buddy. At that time, they were using .357, 9mm, and sometimes .45. The guy who had the fatal ND just screwed up trigger pulls, (among other things).