Unintended Fire

Most everyone has done it, to one degree or another, at some point, whether they want to admit it or not. That's why we keep them pointed in that safe direction, otherwise a momentary lapse could be tragic rather than unnerving.
 
ShotgunHunter said:
Wow, I was playing around ...
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I hope you've learned now not to play around with loaded weapons. That was drilled into me long before I was allowed my first BB gun.
 
Old Grump said:
Welcome to a very large club. If you play with guns long enough you will eventually have an ooops moment. The trick is to not repeat it. Those who have not had an ooops moment just haven't had one yet or aren't admitting it.
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Not trying to pick on you, Grump, a few people said something like this.

I totally reject the idea that a negligent discharge is inevitable. You're dealing with a deadly object. If a person's job is to handle dynamite or haul fuel, I don't consider accidental explosions or spills inevitable. Observing proper safety precautions it's possible - in fact, should be the norm - to never have any sort of ND.

Been shooting for about 19 years now, few tens of thousands of rounds fired, about 60-70 guns fired, from muzzle loaders to revolvers to shotguns to semi pistols to full auto P90 and MP5. No NDs, knock on wood, through scrupulous observance of safety rules. I realize I've barely started compared to some of you, but I think I'll get through the next 19 without an ND too.

An adult with a professional attitude toward his guns should never laugh off an ND or consider it inevitable. Rest assured the civil court system will not agree.
 
Bud Helms said:
All "ooops moments" aren't negligent discharges.
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I respect you Bud, and I know I'm a whipper snapper compared to you in firearms experience, so please don't take this as insolence, but I don't understand, aside from a mechanical error in the gun or having the gun slip in your hands, how that could be so. Don't play with the gun if it's loaded, finger off the trigger, good solid holster that covers the trigger, careful where you point it...should be fine. Always has been in my experience.

Law school has admittedly made me very cautious on this issue, reading cases where firearm companies and/or private parties have paid life-ruining, exorbitant judgments to victims of accidental discharges.
 
I'm glad no one was hurt, and hope he learned his lesson. I'm sure he now realizes the seriousness of his mistake.

Now that all ended well....we can laugh at him.
 
ShotgunHunter

Unintended Fire
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I hope this incident falls into that category of learning more from your mistakes than your successes.

I hope it never occurs again because you will not repeat the same behavior ever again.
 
Not trying to pick on you, Grump, a few people said something like this.

I totally reject the idea that a negligent discharge is inevitable. You're dealing with a deadly object. If a person's job is to handle dynamite or haul fuel, I don't consider accidental explosions or spills inevitable. Observing proper safety precautions it's possible - in fact, should be the norm - to never have any sort of ND.

Been shooting for about 19 years now, few tens of thousands of rounds fired, about 60-70 guns fired, from muzzle loaders to revolvers to shotguns to semi pistols to full auto P90 and MP5. No NDs, knock on wood, through scrupulous observance of safety rules. I realize I've barely started compared to some of you, but I think I'll get through the next 19 without an ND too.

An adult with a professional attitude toward his guns should never laugh off an ND or consider it inevitable. Rest assured the civil court system will not agree.
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Go ahead and pick, I was shooting for 20 years before you was born unless you were a late starter and the first 20 years I had no accidental or negligent discharges and then wham, it happens. Only safety that works is the one between your ears. No matter how many times you handle a weapon someday there will be an oops moment.

You learn. you pray nothing bad happens and if you were otherwise safe and didn't shoot your favorite beer mug or your mother in law in the tush you can relax, have a nervous giggle and know that you won't do that stupid thing again unless you are a real idiot.

I know people who lost their TV sets and have quick draw scars on their legs, they are not people I want walking behind me in the woods and are not invited to shoot on my land. A man who makes a mistake, admits a mistake and his otherwise safe habits prevented a tragedy is a man who won't make that mistake again and I will be happy to shoot with him. Only time I am dead bone super critical about safe gun handling is when I am on the firing line or running the firing line. Put a hole in the wrong target I will laugh, put a hole in my shooting bench and I will get a bit owly but sweep somebody with a gun barrel or handle a firearm when somebody is down range will get me on your neck big time and you won't be shooting again on that range.

It's a big club like I said and most of us are in it. Those who are not in it are not in it yet or are lying so never say never.

Be careful out there but don't take things so seriously or you will have a very miserable life.
 
I had a firearms instructor once who said that the more you handle a firearm the closer you get to that unintended discharge. Glad nobody got hurt and the only damage was to property which can be fixed or replaced (most of the time). On the job I have access to several Mossberg 500s with 18.5 inch barrels. The shot will open up but it takes more than 5 feet to do it. In the size of a normal room in a house the shot would spread to roughly 1 foot. Like others I heard the stories that a shotgun with such a short barrel would spread near 5 feet wide at a 12 foot distance but the truth is that the spread is not quite that drastic.
 
Old Grump said:
Go ahead and pick, I was shooting for 20 years before you was born unless you were a late starter and the first 20 years I had no accidental or negligent discharges and then wham, it happens. Only safety that works is the one between your ears. No matter how many times you handle a weapon someday there will be an oops moment.

You learn. you pray nothing bad happens and if you were otherwise safe and didn't shoot your favorite beer mug or your mother in law in the tush you can relax, have a nervous giggle and know that you won't do that stupid thing again unless you are a real idiot.

I know people who lost their TV sets and have quick draw scars on their legs, they are not people I want walking behind me in the woods and are not invited to shoot on my land. A man who makes a mistake, admits a mistake and his otherwise safe habits prevented a tragedy is a man who won't make that mistake again and I will be happy to shoot with him. Only time I am dead bone super critical about safe gun handling is when I am on the firing line or running the firing line. Put a hole in the wrong target I will laugh, put a hole in my shooting bench and I will get a bit owly but sweep somebody with a gun barrel or handle a firearm when somebody is down range will get me on your neck big time and you won't be shooting again on that range.

It's a big club like I said and most of us are in it. Those who are not in it are not in it yet or are lying so never say never.

Be careful out there but don't take things so seriously or you will have a very miserable life.
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Thanks for the response O.G., ill think about that. :)
 
LockedBreech, I'm not that easily offended. Here is a scenario.

You get home from the range and walk in the house with your Sig still holstered. You go into the study and set down your gear. Unholster your weapon and lay it on the table.

Your five year old son comes in and runs to you for a hug. You walk to the kitchen with him to ask Mommy if Johnny can have a cookie. Mommy says okay. You look around and Johnny is not in sight.

You hotfoot it into the study and there stands Johnny looking down at the Sig. You sweep it up and holster it.

The weapon was last made safe at the range, then holstered for the ride home. It is safe ... until 15 minutes later you finally get ready to clean it and find one in the chamber. How is that for an "oops moment"?

There are a million of these situations waiting for us.
 
I know people who lost their TV sets and have quick draw scars on their legs, they are not people I want walking behind me in the woods and are not invited to shoot on my land.
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A man who makes a mistake, admits a mistake and his otherwise safe habits prevented a tragedy is a man who won't make that mistake again and I will be happy to shoot with him.
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Those two thoughts seem contradictory to me.

Unless you meant one guy shot his TV and has more than one of those quick draw scars... :eek:
 
Bud Helms said:
LockedBreech, I'm not that easily offended. Here is a scenario.

You get home from the range and walk in the house with your Sig still holstered. You go into the study and set down your gear. Unholster your weapon and lay it on the table.

Your five year old son comes in and runs to you for a hug. You walk to the kitchen with him to ask Mommy if Johnny can have a cookie. Mommy says okay. You look around and Johnny is not in sight.

You hotfoot it into the study and there stands Johnny looking down at the Sig. You sweep it up and holster it.

The weapon was last made safe at the range, then holstered for the ride home. It is safe ... until 15 minutes later you finally get ready to clean it and find one in the chamber. How is that for an "oops moment"?

There are a million of these situations waiting for us.
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I really need to get out of my own head sometimes. I'm a young student who lives alone, as do most of my friends, I forget others have kids/spouses/family to worry about too.
 
well it happens, sometimes the more you handle guns the more complacent you get. my dad had an Army buddy that shot his finger off after removing the mag from his 1911, forgetting to eject the round that was in the chamber. glad no one was hurt
 
LockedBreech,

That's why I keep reading on TFL after so long. I learn something nearly everytime I log in. One guy can't have all the experience here.
 
Those two thoughts seem contradictory to me.

Unless you meant one guy shot his TV and has more than one of those quick draw scars...
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I do know one guy with two quick draw scars and then he bought a holster with a steel deflector plate attached to it. I don't like being around him when he is armed.

A man who practices quick draw with a loaded gun isn't just having a moment of carelessness, he is being recklessly dangerous and stupid, that is a whole nother class of dumb and one must be very sure it won't be a repeat experience. I can forgive a lot but losing my water tight integrity to a hot dog is high on my list of undesired.
 
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