Jim's Browning '74C series 9mm

[hounddoghowlie]

Hello My Dear @"senona" 

My husband said the slide is not all the way forward and it is hanging the thumb safety.
Take one or two screws holding the right wooden grip off and you should be able to spray the inside of the safety mechanism and the slide grove and trigger area.
Yes using WD 40 will be fine, that is what a gunsmith will use and a rubber mallet.

i'm gonna agree with guosha's old man and say, something going on with the slide. you can see daylight between the hammer and seat in the slide. and the slide doesn't seem to be lining up with the frame in the back.

it could be the safety detent ball and spring is rusty and stuck, at least it looks like it has one looking at other images. or rust along slide tracks.

couldn't find any with the same perspective as your image, but it you look at at the two below you will see what i'm saying
here is the image i'm looking at,




see how the slide is lined up with the frame and look at the safety, see the gap between the body of it and the frame.  you can see a little round ball
there. it also looks as if the safety is not fully released on your, not all the way down.

here is another, gun that shows it a little better,


see how the tang that goes in the slide on this one is all the way down and you can see the line(grove) above it.

now here is yours to compare them



see the daylight between the hammer and slide? and see the safety tang is not all the way down past the slide? as others have said use penetrating oil.
there are two others that i find better than WD40, that's Kroil oil or PB Blaster. 

spray it around the back side of the safety body the flat part at the back behind the raised thumb portion of the safety and on the sides of it. on the other side you should be able to see the pin end of the safety on the frame spray it there. also spray along the slide groves.
spray the gap area and detent ball. let soak for a hour or so. try to move it by hand first. it it doesn't move take a light mallet or hammer with a solid piece of brass or if no soft metal is available a small piece of wood and place it on the raised part of the safety and tap do not hit it real hard. if you can find a small piece of metal that will fit in the gap where the detent spring is try and push the ball in, if it's rusty it might push in and stick, and you will have to get someone to break it down and fix it.

i didn't see if you knew if there was a round in the chamber or not, treat as if there is one. if that doesn't work take it to a gun smith or someone you know that has experience in working on weapons.

if it does work give to someone else when you test fire it to try

after i posted the enlarged picture of yours i can see either rust, or something around the flat part of the safety in the back.

you know i just thought about something, the hammer could be in the half cocked position that's why you can see daylight.