Till quite recently, the automatic pistol had many defects, both as to balance and as to safety, chie?y in the latter respect, so that only a very careful expert could handle one without danger to the public and to himself. This has now been altered, and with safety bolts and external hammers several automatic pistols are quite safe for the use of experts. They are still very dangerous in the hands of ignorant persons; a revolver is dangerous enough in such cases but the automatic is much more so.