I know pressure cookers/canners can be dangerous, but I honestly feel better about these old ones than some of the newer ones. The design is so heavy duty that the only way that things could really go sideways is if 1) you forget what you're doing, don't watch the cooker, or otherwise fail to keep pressure at the right level. We don't do this, but it's why my mom isn't allowed to have a stovetop cooker/canner anymore (she gets to doing other things and forgets). We got her an electric Instapot now and that's much safer because it shuts itself off automatically, or 2) you've seriously damaged it by dropping it or hitting it with something hard, causing a potentially hidden fracture in the metal, but you use it anyway.