 The poor design of the breech allowed the Type 94 Nambu to be fired unintentionally . The sear bar on the Type 94 Nambu converts the forward pull of the trigger into a lateral movement that frees the hammer . Because the sear bar is on the outside of the pistol , it could be jarred loose during engagement if the pistol was <unk> and handled carelessly . The forward end of the sear bar would need to be depressed approximately <unk> to cause the weapon to fire . The ability to fire the Type 94 without pulling the trigger gave rise to war stories of Japanese soldiers surrendering , only to fire the pistol , earning the pistol <unk> such as the " suicide special " and the " surrender pistol " . These stories are widely discredited because of the difficulty to fire the weapon by <unk> the sear bar . If the safety is engaged on the Type 94 it is impossible for the weapon to discharge unintentionally . 
