It's great to meet someone in the industry who's a tinkerer and a problem solver. They tend to come to the gun making craft without any of the preconceived notions that those of us who've been around the gun world have drilled into us about "how things should be."

At a recent gun writer's conference sponsored by the Blue August PR agency, I had the pleasure to meet Bob Faxon, the man behind the Faxon Firearms ARAK series of rifles. Sure, Bob makes a cool piston gun with some features and refinements not seen on other AR-style rifles, but his greatest strength is solving problems. During some conversations with LE types, he discovered that officers were worried about inadvertently tripping the safety on an AR when the rifle brushes against gear.

Problem: accidental discharges due to fouling on duty gear.

Solution: a 1911-style grip safety.

Pictured above, the Faxon backstrap safety. Keep in mind, this is a prototype, but the gist of it is that the trigger will not engage unless the rifle's grip is properly held. We tested it and it works. Faxon plans to refine the device and have it available on his rifles by the first of 2015 as an option.

Some of the writers were skeptical of the idea, reluctant to have anything else get in front of them and a round down range. But for overly safety conscious PDs (and to avoid litigation from an AD), the backstrap safety might be just the thing.

Is this something your customers would want? Let us know in the comments.