Negligent Discharge

[balderclev]

Not sure if is is the place for this but didn't see anywhere else to post it.

My wife and I had been deer hunting in El Dorado, AR and were staying in a hotel there. We had just got back and my wife had gone to the room. She wanted me to bring her a can of sausages that was on the floor behind the front seat. I had a shotgun there on the floor that was loaded with 3 1/2" #4 buckshot and was hot (I never have a loaded hunting rifle in a vehicle anymore).

As usual, that area of the truck was covered up with clothes and other stuff. I reached in with my hand rummaging around for it but couldn't find it so went to the passenger side to look for it. The shotgun was laying with the butt towards the drivers side and barrel towards the passenger side. All I can determine is that I somehow pushed the safety off when looking from the drivers side and something caught on the trigger when I was looking on the passenger side.

The shotgun went off. At first I didn't know what had happened. My first thought was that an airbag had deployed. However, when I looked down, I saw a large hole in the floorboard, smoke, and several holes in the inside of my pants legs.

I closed the door and went up to our room. Several people had been in the lobby looked at me funny. I had several layers of clothes on as it was very cold out. Every layer had holes in it except for the last one. On taking the next to last layer off, several pellets fell out.

My inside thigh was bruised and oozing a little blood but no holes in my leg.

I was extremely lucky. The blast had gone between my legs. An inch or two difference and I might have lost my leg or worse. Here is a picture of the aftermath immediately after and then a couple of days later. This was several years ago.

 

[natgas]

Wow! That had to hurt; glad you were ok though

 

[rcmodel]

Why are you carrying a loaded shotgun under a pile of junk in the back floorboards anyway???

At the very least, carry it 'cruser ready' with shells in the mag and an empty chamber.
It takes all of 1/2 second to load it after you have control of it.

rc

 

[bikerdoc]

I moved this to shotguns for a more relevant and educational discusion.

 

[BigBore45]

I'm glad your ok and that is all that happen. But Damn dude, that is not smart, loaded gun you cannot see??? who even thinks that is safe??

 

[GarySTL]

I applaud your good fortune, but not your planning.

 

[Teachu2]

Almost had a Worse Than Darwin Award win there - remove yourself from the gene pool but still live.

 

[balderclev]

Why are you carrying a loaded shotgun under a pile of junk in the back floorboards anyway???

At the very least, carry it 'cruser ready' with shells in the mag and an empty chamber.
It takes all of 1/2 second to load it after you have control of it.

rc

Like I said, I don't do this anymore and actually this was the only time I remember storing one this way. Got lazy I guess. Being extremely safety conscious, I have no excuse. Just posted this as a reminder to all that even a momentary lapse in judgement can be devastating. Be safe. I welcome all the butt kicking I receive here as I definitely deserve it. Otherwise, I would not have posted it. But if it keeps one person safe, it is worth on the criticism I get.

 

[oneounceload]

Got lazy I guess

#1 cause of Darwin Award winners

Be smart, be safe, STAY safe

 

[Virginian]

Quote:
Got lazy I guess
#1 cause of Darwin Award winners

Respectfully disagree.
#1 - alcohol
#2 - gross stupidity
After that negligence, laziness, carelessness; take your pick.

 

[WestKentucky]

I had a grand total of 1 ND myself. Pretty similar results to yours, but mine was while actively squirrel hunting. Henry 22 levergun. Squirrel kept going around the tree. I kept going around the tree chasing squirrel. Several times I got as far as hammer back, and aiming when squirrel would move. Thumb on hammer, hammer down then move...except the time my thumb slipped with the gun pointed at my foot. Through the toe of the boot, between my big toe and it's neighbor, stuck in rubber sole. Lost a pair of boots, left the rifle in the woods, went home frustrated, mad at myself, and wondering how stupid a company can be to introduce a safety - less rifle in a world that is lawsuit happy. I sent dad for the gun and he sold it for me.

 

[roadchoad]

Glad you are okay and I applaud your courage to share your story as an example what can happen if you get complacent with the rules.

 

[bangswitch]

Like I said, I don't do this anymore and actually this was the only time I remember storing one this way. Got lazy I guess. Being extremely safety conscious, I have no excuse. Just posted this as a reminder to all that even a momentary lapse in judgement can be devastating. Be safe. I welcome all the butt kicking I receive here as I definitely deserve it. Otherwise, I would not have posted it. But if it keeps one person safe, it is worth on the criticism I get.

I think you got all the butt-kicking you needed from that buckshot load. Looks like you took away with you a good lesson in what happens when complacency takes over.

I admire that you are willing to display such a serious lapse in judgment so others may take a lesson from it. I'm happy the injuries were no more serious than they were. You might have been singing much higher than soprano.

 

[Jim Watson]

Dave Higinbotham, famous Rolling Block gunsmith, made a similar mistake with one of them newfangled automatic guns. He didn't live over it.

 

[wally]

#1 cause of Darwin Award winners

"Hold my beer and watch this!"

 

[rcmodel]

I had my one and only ND in about 1961 as a Junior in High school.

I came in on the back screen porch of my parents farmhouse after coyote hunting on foot in sub-zero weather all morning.

I had a loaded 722 Remington .222 slung muzzle up.

I took it off my shoulder to clear it.

And as took the safety off to open the bolt to unload it, it fired!!
And the 50 grain bullet center-punched an overhead 2"x4" rafter and exited the roof leaving a 2" hole.

My dad gave me a cussing for shooting so close to the house.
And I got some split-ceder shingles and patched the roof the next time I was home alone!!

I never could figure it out until recently, when all the Remington trigger controversy came up.

Because I still know to this day my finger was nowhere near the trigger.

I am convinced now the trigger design caused it.

As for pulling and tugging weapons toward you by the muzzle?

Never, ever, Ever do it!!!!

It is a fool-proof way to end up dead or maimed for life!!!

rc

 

[vongh]

Im sorry that had to happen to you. But it takes a lot of guts to make a post like that. That we can all learn from

 

[gamestalker]

Thank the Lord you learned how not to store a loaded firearm without it costing you a serious injury, or worse.

I have a friend that years back he always carried his rifles and shotguns with a round in the chamber during hunting season, barrel pointed down at the floor board. One year he had a .243 win., round chanbered, safety on, and some how, who knows how, it just happens when we stupid things, the safety got disengaged, and the trigger pulled. It blew a hole in his transfer case, cost him a bunch of money, but at least not his life.

I'm the type of person who always, and I do mean literally always carries a loaded firearm 24/7. But when it concerns a firearm that's not in my control, in other words not on my person, or in my hands, the chamber is empty. Like RC said, it takes all but a 1/2 second to chamber a round when necessary, and that there is no logical reason to store a loaded firearm under a bunch of clothes and stuff anyway, that's just plain dangerous. One of my Sons is always doing stuff like that, sometimes I want to knock his block of for being so thoughtless.

Anyway, I'm glad your ok, and I really hope that you'll think twice about carrying a firearm in that manner again.

GS

 

[rcmodel]

I knew a guy years ago that shot the auto transmission out of his Chevy pick-up not once, but twice in one winter coyote hunting.

Plus, he shot his radio antenna off the same winter.

Can't fix stupid!

rc

 

[drcook]

There used to be a company named Lone Star that built beautiful, higher end reproductions of Remington Rolling Blocks.

The owner had a lapse and reached in his truck to take out an AR15 that for whatever reason, he had left loaded.

The company went abruptly and permanently out of business. His family was left to deal with the tragedy of losing their husband/father etc as well as dealing with customers who had put down deposits, had their guns there being worked on, etc.

 

[short barrel]

I have had accidental discharges before. It happens. I suspect anyone who handles firearms daily has had it happen at least once. We learn from it. Balderclev has humbled himself to confess the details that we might learn. My occurrences were so utterly stupid I would be too ashamed to admit them.

 

[g.willikers]

In one of my many history books about the old West, it was claimed that more west ho travelers got themselves killed that way than from any other kind of shooting.
More than from outlaws, Indian attacks or gunfights.

 

[bangswitch]

I have had accidental discharges before. It happens.

No such thing. There are three types of firearm discharge; Intentional, Unintentional, and Negligent. To carry that further, both intentional and unintentional discharges can be negligent.

Nothing personal, I think I take your meaning "it happens" as, it's a fact that they do occur, but the 'it happens' mindset shows complacency regarding safety steps to prevent it "from happening".

I was about 23 or 24, at a friend's house watching a football game on TV. He had a Ruger Mark III .22 pistol lying on a table next to his back door, he said it was to "run dogs off", etc. He picked it up to show me, and thought to make sure it wasn't loaded (he didn't think it was), by aiming it to the side and pulling the trigger. He muzzle flashed me as he swung it towards the door, and there was a sudden BANG and the sound of glass shattering. The bullet had passed between my semi-raised arm and my abdomen and through the window pane in the door.

S**t like that stays with you; I've been a safety "Nazi" ever since.

 

[Frostbite]

Never happened to me, but thank you for sharing that educational mishap. A man who can both learn and teach about his mistakes is not a Darwin Award in my humble opinion.
I will continue to be a freak about gun safety. Even when hunting, I do not carry the gun with a round chambered, muzzleloader excepted.
If I sit in a tree stand, I will chamber one once up there and unload it before I get down. On the four wheeler or in a truck, the .209 primer is removed as well as any rifle or shotgun round. I prefer to miss a shot on a deer than to cause an accidental firearm discharge.

 

[LeonCarr]

The OP is very lucky to be alive. I would have bought a lottery ticket that day.

A shotgun loaded with buckshot or slugs can kill you and disassemble you at the same time.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr