Who's had a 'negligent discharge'??

I'll start: Two in two decades. Both hit the ground, and no one hurt.

This is why the Four Rules overlap! Learn, correct, and do better.

Fortunately, all of my firearms discharges have been deliberate. I have witnessed accidental discharges to include a fellow soldier being shot in his left hand (Fort Campbell, circa 1973) with a duty 1911 by another soldier quick drawing like a cowboy - shooter was issued an Article 15 and reduced in rank from E-5 to E-2. I was laying on my bunk about 10 feet away from the discharge - scared the bejesus out of me. The round made quite a hole in his palm - blood everywhere. That incident has always stuck in my head and made me a very safe firearms handler with an acute awareness. There always has to be an awareness when in the presence of firearms.

I had one with a CO2 bb pistol when I was about 12. Learned a lesson. BB is still in my leg.

My first and only AD occurred when I was 14 (many moons ago). I had a single shot Stevens .22 bolt action that had a cocking knob at the rear of the bolt. It was cold, and I spotted a rabbit in the snow about 20 yards in front of me. I had on woolen gloves, and when I went to pull back the cocking knob, the knop slipped out of my fingers due to the gloves not fitting me well. Luckily the shot went into the ground about 10 feet in front of me and scared both the rabbit and me near half to death.

I've had one. Was at the range trying to learn my gun handlinga with my first pistol I had only owned for maybe three months. Went to do a mag change and instead of racking the slide I went for the slide release. As I twisted the gun to reach the release my trigger finger slipped off the frame and onto the trigger. As soon as the slide was in battery I fired the gun and put a bullet into the concrete about 7' in front of me. Shaken I unloaded the pistol and let my buddy finish before we packed up. Learned just how valuable the overlap between the safety rules are. Also never go for the slide release anymore, always rack the slide now.

In ~60 years of shooting I cannot recall having ever experienced either a negligent or accidental discharge. Lucky, I guess ... so far.

I do, however, vividly remember almost experiencing a moronic discharge (what I consider to be beyond negligent). I was in my teens (but an experienced & responsible hand with firearms ... I thought) and it involved an "unloaded" .22rf revolver. Just before pulling that trigger (pistol pointed at the floor, btw), I froze ... slowly lowered the hammer and checked the cylinder. Fully loaded.

Perhaps that is why I have always (since that incident, at least) been so extra careful & respectful with firearms.

About 20 years ago with a CZ 75BD while shooting with a friend on his rural property. I was not observing proper trigger finger discipline and turned my head to say something to my shooting buddy. Bang! Luckily the pistol was pointed down range.

Had one over 20 years ago after mounting the scope on my 10/22. Then took it to the range and fine tuned the zero on it. While packing up to leave I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing because I was busy talking with another shooter. Put it back in the case with a chambered round and the safety off. Got home; took it out of the case down in the basement, (thinking it's empty), and shouldered the gun to look through my new scope again. Had my finger on the trigger and was studying the scope reticle ........BANG....... Shot the basement wall. No real damage but I sure learned a lesson....... Don't get distracted and make 100% sure the gun is clear when you are done with it and go to put it back in the case.

GBExpat said:

Just before pulling that trigger (pistol pointed at the floor, btw), I froze .

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That was my one close call in 50+ years and it was just a few years ago. I used a 1911 for a few vent holes in a burn barrel. Stepped into the garage, pulled the magazine and pointed at the floor. Took the slack out of the trigger and froze. Yep, had one in the chamber. It gets your attention.

Had a couple.
Half unintended discharge
The flintlock had a set trigger. Loaded her up and got on target. Heard something and looked away for a second.....BOOM! The 8oz trigger I bumped and went off. Thankfully down range and only 3 inches off target.

Eons ago I was busy plowing through I think 1k of 5.56 that I got dirt cheap in my DPMS. By around the 200-300~ round count she was cooking hot. Slapped in another mag, charged her and moments later BOOM....a dozen or so yards ahead of me.
First ever cook-off. Scared the bejeezus outta me.

Made me far more cautious from them on.

I've had a couple of unintentional discharges, nothing negligent. If they had been negligent I'd be in jail. The term "Negligent Discharge" is way over used and as gun owners we need to only use the term to describe incidents that are truly negligent. And most of the time that is determined by a jury.

Words are powerful and choosing the wrong word conveys the wrong message. With gun rights constantly under attack we never want to portray ourselves as being negligent with firearms if we're not. The gun control crowd is going to use our own words against us.

An analogy. If I pull up to a stop sign and come to a complete stop. I carefully look both ways and determine that it is safe for me to proceed, but I misjudge the speed and distance of another vehicle and cause a crash. I'm responsible for the crash. But I did nothing negligent.

On the other hand if I never come to a complete stop. If I'm texting or otherwise distracted. If I'm under the influence of drugs or alcohol when I pull into the intersection my negligence caused the crash and the consequences are much more severe.

Not yet. But I’m paranoid as ^%$# about it so that helps.

I was around 19 or 20 years old—more than forty years ago. I was in the habit of practicing my draw—without any training, of course—in the mirror in my bedroom. Got up one day and decided to do that ... while I was still sleepy ... without checking to see the revolver was unloaded (remember the “no training” part), drew and fired a round right through myself in the mirror. I still remember the ringing silence and my surprise, shock, and feeling of ... well, “dodging a bullet” actually fits for once. To this day I have no memory of pulling the trigger, but I fired double-action so I surely did.

Since then I have learned and internalized the four rules and think of myself as a pretty safety-minded shooter, to the point where I probably annoy people sometimes. That’s okay by me, I never want to hurt someone—even myself—with another brain fade incident. Legally it might not have been negligent, but I’ve always thought of it that way.

jmr40 said:

I've had a couple of unintentional discharges, nothing negligent. If they had been negligent I'd be in jail. The term "Negligent Discharge" is way over used and as gun owners we need to only use the term to describe incidents that are truly negligent. And most of the time that is determined by a jury.

Words are powerful and choosing the wrong word conveys the wrong message. With gun rights constantly under attack we never want to portray ourselves as being negligent with firearms if we're not. The gun control crowd is going to use our own words against us.

An analogy. If I pull up to a stop sign and come to a complete stop. I carefully look both ways and determine that it is safe for me to proceed, but I misjudge the speed and distance of another vehicle and cause a crash. I'm responsible for the crash. But I did nothing negligent.

On the other hand if I never come to a complete stop. If I'm texting or otherwise distracted. If I'm under the influence of drugs or alcohol when I pull into the intersection my negligence caused the crash and the consequences are much more severe.

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Interesting take. I’m not sure I agree, can we chat about it? In my mind, other than a defective firearm or a runaway gun, every discharge of a firearm is the result of something the shooter failed to do (or so correctly) and would have been easily prevented had the action been taken or done correctly.

To me, the word accident implies something that happens without apparent cause and/or there was nothing that could have been done to avoid it. To me it’s different from unintentional, which implies you hadn’t planned on the thing happening but it did. Accidental to me would apply to the cases of a defective firearm, the operator of which did everything as they should have but the gun discharged.

Contsrast that with Negligence. To me that means the operator failed to take basic proper action when handling the firearm and in so doing, discharged the firearm. Negligence to me implies that whether you meant to or not, the discharge was the direct result of something you did or failed to do and would not have happened had you done/not done said thing.

That’s the way my brain, as it is right now, constructs things. Is there a flaw in that logic?

Mine was about 18 years ago. I loaded a .22 pistol and set it on the bench. I fired my other pistols and finished off with the .22 then put everything in their respective cases/holsters. That .22 had one round left in the chamber and I must have bumped the trigger when casing it, and that 36 grain bullet rang the Dickens out of the gong downrange and my ears with no hearing protection. I forgot how loud those suckers are without plugs/muffs. I then proceeded to verify EVERYTHING was unloaded again and finished up my shooting session.

When I was 14 or 15, I had one of those Savage/Stevens “over and under” (22 Mag on the top, .410 shotgun on the bottom) guns. It had a switch (a button) on the side for switching from the top barrel to the bottom barrel.
One afternoon when I was out pheasant hunting I ran into a buddy of mine, and I proceeded to show him my new gun. I told him, “Watch, you can use the switch as a safety by switching it to the barrel that isn’t loaded.” Then I unloaded the top, 22 Magnum barrel, closed the gun, moved the switch to the top barrel, cocked the hammer, and pulled the trigger with the gun pointed at the ground.
BOOM!!!
I learned that “switch” did NOT work as a safety, and I’ve been thankful ever since that I had the gun pointed at the ground.

I had my first three weeks ago after years of gun handling. I was shooting at the range at my farm (Kimber UC 1911). It was blazing hot and I was tired after bush hogging grass all morning and ready to get home and shower. I fired what I thought was the last round. The slide locked back. I released the slide without looking at the chamber (mistake). I then pulled out the mag, saw it was empty and reinserted. I then stupidly pulled the trigger to drop the hammer before I put it in the case. BANG. Scared the you know what out of me. Fortunately I had the weapon pointed away from me and into the woods and also that I was alone.

I could not believe how stupid I was. Beyond a Rookie mistake. Good reminder to always and I mean always follow the correct safety protocol. Check the chamber and the gun is always loaded. Embarrassing.

I had one with a Savage 110. I was at the range doing sighting in work. I had the rifle for about a week. After a few shots when I pushed the bolt home, it went off. No harm since I was alone. In the country, and was already pointed down range. It would not pass the rubber mallet test. In other words, if struck with a hammer the rifle would go click. It was not one of those new accutriggers.

With some trigger adjustments, the problem was resolved. Dangerously adjusted trigger. Somebody here helped me fix the problem.

There is a nice hole in my grandparents floor via a single shot 410. I was 13-14 at the time. Thought it was unloaded. No one hurt. Taught me a valuable lesson. And earned me a trip to Hunter's education.

I did, it was back when I was in High School. I was finishing cleaning my M1 Carbine and, for some stupid reason, I put a round in the chamber and dropped the bolt. The term is "slam-fire," even though my finger was nowhere near the trigger, it fired. I patched the hole in my wall and on the outside of the house before my father got home. Fortunately, it was in a very rural area.

I have seen others have accidental discharges that involved pulling the trigger.

Not me, but I was at a neighbor’s house several months ago when he let one go inside his study. He deliberately pointed the handgun at his newly finished wood floor and pulled the trigger. On purpose. The .22 had an empty magazine but one in the chamber. It ricocheted but we never figured out where it went. I was two feet away...

Sometimes crap happens.

I have not had one of any variety myself but I saw one once. A guy was at a USPSA match. RO tells him to load and make ready. He puts magazine in pistol, jacks slide back, and then points gun at lower part of backstop and pulls trigger very deliberately.

Again a few id call accidental, rather than negligent.

fired a round out the bedroom door (lived in a 40' container on the farm, my room had a sliding glass door which was open) with a 30 carbine, as i chambered it to step outside. Scarry, loud, no damage.

Fired a savage 110 on chambering. Scared the crap out of me, but the gun was pointed down range (kinda at a deer actually).
Ive had multiple rifles fire before i was actually ready for them to....it appears My taste in trigger pulls run heavy, at 2-2.5lbs.......again all were pointed down range, and besides being surprised, there was usually no issue. I did miss behind a running pig with one shot that i can remember tho.

One that was completely my fault, was with a keltec pmr30. Friends gun, I got handed a mag and the gun. I walked to the line, chambered a round, and realized i had no idea how the safety worked.
I dropped the mag, but forgot to rack the slide while i figured it out.
Got the safety to what i thought was on, and pulled the trigger with the gun pointed down range at chest level and turned so i could see the safety.....Those little suckers are LOUD, especially when your expecting a click at most.

Had a friend slip the hammer on my sbh while it was between us and loaded, when trying to lower it. He miss understood my instructions for putting his thumb i front of the hammer while lowering it. He stuck his thumb in there lowerd it to his thumb, pulled it out, dropped the hammer......a full power 44 going off a foot i front of you, while between your body and someone elses is mildly unpleasant. The gun was again, pointed down range.
This one was my fault, because I didnt give him any instruction before hand (hed shot the gun, just never tried to lower the hammer on a live round). I also didnt take, unload, and show him how to do it properly when i found out he didnt know how to do it.