Otherwise known as the locking device. Smith & Wesson is the only firearms manufacturer to so blatantly employ such a mechanism, and it's as intentional as intentional can be. Others such as Ruger have installed these unnecessary tomfoolery's in areas of the gun hidden from a casual glance...beneath the grips...but Smith wanted theirs front and center to proclaim a devotion to "gun safety".
This is one of the few shots of it you'll find at their web site, and the picture doesn't do justice to the abject ugliness of this scar on an otherwise fine looking handgun. Not that these locks are mandatory, mind you, but S&W wanted to go to the head of the Loon-Line and somewhat placate Brady Bunchers and the like by engineering the abomination so that all might see how very, very politically correct they are. Enthusiasts responded with an avalanche of protests, but the ad-hungry gun magazines stood up for Smith by saying that the times were changing and we all had to go along with what a modern society wanted.
Bullshit. It is the customer-base that decides what's wanted and what's not, but our white-flag-waving boys at S&W thought to gain favor with those who for the life of them wouldn't own a gun, and that has to be one of the dumbest marketing moves in a long time. This of course drove up the price of used Smiths, as buyer after buyer was turned off by such an affront and refused to consider purchasing these advertisements for gun control.
Relatively speaking, Smiths are quite pricey to begin with, and it's not a wonder that Ruger and Taurus are having a hard time keeping up with the demand for their products. As for me, I haven't bought a new Smith in quite some time, and would certainly not even think of owning so disfigured a firearm.
And along with the up-side for Ruger and Taurus, gunsmiths are having a field day transforming the Smith-Zits into real guns, and anything that keeps the firearms industry afloat is a good thing.
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