Well, it's a similar impulse to the way you see professional carpenters pin the guard open on a saw or do other things everyone knows you shouldn't do, except probably with a larger productivity difference and less life-altering (for the operator) consequence if it goes wrong.

I had the same thought, it's kind of like taking the guard off a 4 1/2" grinder. Real convenient until the cutting wheel explodes or the grinder gets hung and kicks back.