Stacie -
I am sorry I missed this post when you made it.
In my background as a Curator and gun guy, I have seen a few approaches regarding firing pins - from removal of all firing pins (VERY rare) to leaving them all in (VERY common). I will cover the common arguments regarding the removal/retention of firing pins.
Legality - To my knowledge, there are no laws in the United States concerning the removal of firing pins in exhibited firearms. Granted, you may live in a jurisdiction that has some sort of city, county, or state law, but I am unaware of any.
Regulatory/institutional policy - Some agencies do this as a matter of course. The United States Marshals Museum (a 501c3 non-profit corporation) has 40+ firearms on loan from the United States Marshals Service (a federal agency). The USMS policy for any modern firearms on loan to us is to remove the pin, striker, or other means to ignite the cartridge. Some older arms still have the pin but these are typically arms in which removal of the pin would adversely affect the appearance of the arm on an otherwise obsolete firearm.
Safety/Security - In a past position, and after conversations with administration and our security head, several arms were identified as concerns regarding the possibility of an active shooter scenario. Positing that someone would not have to obtain/bring their own firearm but could break the glass on a case and use prepared commonly-available magazines and ammunition, we chose to remove the firing pin/striker from several common modern firearms in order to prevent their possible use in a shooting event. The removed parts were stored in collections and were identified as constituent parts of the firearms in question. Related, subordinate records were created in the collection management system in use.
Even after considering the above situations, I would not recommend this step to be undertaken lightly. Depending on the size of the collection, the considerations and responsibility to the collection could be sizeable. These fall into two main areas.
Damage to collections: As much as most museum professionals don't have a lot of gun knowledge, most gun guys don't understand museums. It is easier to internalize the gun info than the museum mentality. As sturdy as most firearms are, there are a lot of gun guys out there who do not take the care we would like when manipulating firearms. The mental chasm between "a gun" and "an object" can be sizable. Every action we take with care and consideration and for the safety and longevity of the object can appear to be useless frippery because guns are guns and items are treated very differently in the two categories.
Administrative Work/Time: If a firing pin/striker can be safely removed, you now have a separate object which needs to be handled as such. Whether bagging and tagging it and placing it in the object file or creating a container to contain your new collection of gun parts, you will still need to create new records and notes for each firearm which is affected and the new ".a" object you have created.
My personal and professional recommendation is to not disassemble collections unless you have a trained general objects conservator or a gunsmith who is VERY familiar with the materials you are affecting. Someone who regularly works on ARs, AKs, Glocks, and high-end race guns is not normally knowledgeable in Winchesters, Colts, and other guns from the 1800s. It is ridiculously easy to damage a firearm - especially one in a museum collection.
Please feel free to contact me here or offline if you have further questions.
Cheers,
Dave K.
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David Kennedy
Curator of Collections and Exhibits
US Marshals Museum
Fort Smith, AR
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-02-2022 06:00 PM
From: Stacie Petersen
Subject: Firearm Firing Pin Policy
I am working on updating policies and would be interested in seeing copies of your firing pin policy for firearms in your colletion.
Thank you in advance.
Stacie
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Stacie Petersen
Director of Exhibitions and Registrar
She/Her/Hers
National WWI Museum and Memorial
2 Memorial Drive | Kansas City | MO | 64108
Office: +1 816.888.8119
Email: spetersen@theworldwar.org
theworldwar.org
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