I perceive this as your opinion and not necessarily HTC's. I respect and understand your insight, but this is a whole new can of worms that I would not want to open. Imagine being killed in a tank while in the commanders position at your machinegun, being killed in your bomber or PT boat while in a gunners position ... What a gripe fest it would cause. Thank you for the mention that it may be a bug, I am wondering if I put this into the wrong forum.
You are free to perceive it as you wish. You can be killed by gun fire in a bomber while at a gunners post. It happened to me, and I used to keep the film as proof. I have also been killed by gun fire in a GV while in the driver's position and not "buttoned up". I can't see how anyone would have an issue with being killed because the occupant of that position was killed by gun fire. Expecting to be invulnerable to gun fire in any position is rather ludicrous. If you can be killed by gun fire while in the pilot's position in a bomber, why would you expect NOT to be killed if you jump to a gun position and it is hit by gun fire? Why would you expect a GV to be any different?
The commander of a PT boat stands right out in the open, and he can be killed there. You think he should be able to jump to a gun and NOT be killed by gun fire while there? You expect not to be killed when occupying a tank commander's position if the tank is not "buttoned up"? You think you should enjoy the field of view advantage while remaining invulnerable to gun fire?
I find your position to be lacking in logic. Gun fire kills in this game, why would you expect not to die if hit by gun fire just because you are in a particular position, or not in a particular position? What you are saying makes no sense at all.