I recently overheard a co worker say a friend of his suffered from an accidental discharge. From what i took from it, he never cleaned his firearm (2 years)and when cleaning it his millennium 40 cal. fired a round. It pierce through his leg missing vital arteries and bone. Very lucky. Obviously he did not follow the safety measures we all discuss on this site. It did bring me to a question. When I owned a motorcycle I had a belief that its not a question if your going to go down, it was only when and how bad. Which proved true two times for me. Does this apply with firearms as well? Have any of you experienced accidental discharge.

I recently overheard a co worker say a friend of his suffered from an accidental discharge. From what i took from it, he never cleaned his firearm (2 years)and when cleaning it his millennium 40 cal. fired a round. It pierce through his leg missing vital arteries and bone. Very lucky. Obviously he did not follow the safety measures we all discuss on this site. It did bring me to a question. When I owned a motorcycle I had a belief that its not a question if your going to go down, it was only when and how bad. Which proved true two times for me. Does this apply with firearms as well? Have any of you experienced accidental discharge.

I disagree in the fact that firearms safety with a firearm in your hands is always dependent upon the handler. Riding a motorcycle has too many other variables beyond the operators control. A motorcycle operator cannot stop another person from say pulling out in front of him/her. But when you handle a firearm you are always responsible for safe operation.

As for the accidental or negligent discharge as most commonly referred to, I have one (maybe). I was handling a semi-auto pistol that I was not that familiar with operational wise. It was a 1911 style pistol in .380 caliber. I had cocked it while loaded and I was in the process of trying to uncock it. Well, knowing I wasn't familiar with it's operation, I pointed it in a safe direction, (yes I was outdoors) and attempted to lower the hammer as it was not equipped with a de-cocker and my finger slipped and the weapon discharged. Scared me. But I had planned for it. Gave it back to the guy who owned it and never touched it again. Cheap gun.

The more you handle firearms, the more opportunity there is for a mental lapse. All you have to do is be distracted once at the wrong time for things to go south. A neglegent or accidental discharge is NOT inevetable. However, if you decide that you are so safe in handling guns that it can't happen to you, it probably will.

Firehouse Firearms: +1 what you said!!

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Pete T.

I was a police officer most of my life, so there were always firearms in the house. I raised two children there. Now I have eight grandchildren and a new great-grandson.

Never had a firearms accident. My approach was very simple: all firearms are kept loaded, everyone in the house knows that the firearms are always loaded, everyone knows that they are never to touch a firearm unless I tell them to, and all the kids are given the opportunity to see what a firearm does from the earliest age (I like to use a can of tomatoes, fire a .357 mag round through it, let the kids see the real result, not what they see on TV).

Worked for me. Of course, now I'm older, now I have more guns, now I have more valuable guns, so I have two gun safes. But the carry guns and the house guns remain accessible and loaded all the time.

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Life of the party until 8:00PM

I spent 10 years in the Navy, five aboard one ship. Part of shipboard life is standing watches, in my case, quarterdeck watches.

The Petty Officer of the Watch carried an M1911A1 with two magazines, normally both of them in a pouch. When we were outside the US, though, the weapon would be loaded, but without a round in the chamber. When the watch was relieved, the drill was that the offgoing watchstander would safe the weapon by ejecting the magazine and locking the slide back. The oncoming watchstander would verify the safed weapon, then relieve the offgoing watchstander.

You can probably see where this is going...maybe once every few months, sometimes less often, the watchstander would load the magazine, release the slide and pull the trigger. And then find himself explaining to the captain why he'd just fired his weapon.

Oh, and we'd also occasionally have the goofball who would eject the magazine without putting his hand under the weapon. Splash...

Operator error, nothing more. Not the thing, the operator.

my dad and I got into handguns and reloading around 81.

I have only had one unintentional discharge ever and I dont think it was my fault.

it was early 1990, I was a young officer and we were qualifying. there were officers behind me shooting skeet in the opposite direction and about 12 of us were each at a 25 yard barricade.

I was going to qualify with my Colt Officers ACP (1911) and the R/O was telling everyone that was shooting semi auto (we were issued 686's back then) to decock your hammers. He came over to me and asked why my hammer was back. I told him it was a single action pistol and it fired from a cocked position. He commenced to yell at me to decock. I told him that I could not and told me if I did not decock that I needed to leave. He turned around so I began to thumb the hammer fwd after pulling the trigger (pointing the muzzle 45 degrees in front of me with no one past the 25 yd line) and the hammer got away from me and "BANG".

I looked to my left and looked to my right and it phased no one that I had an AD because of the shotgun blasts behind us. the R/O never came back my way and I shot the course of fire.

thats my one and only AD, but it would have never happened if the dummy Sgt R/O would have not influenced that young rookie cop.

He was my Lt later in Narcotics and I told him the story and he did not beleive me.

go figure.

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if you're gonna be a bear...

AND, I am not suppose to know this but my dad told me (years ago) that a family friend who (at that time) got hired as an LEO was messin around with his gun and talking to himself in the mirror and doing fast draws.

he did not check the chamber and shot a round in the mirror, went through two walls and almost hit his mom ironing clothes.

this is a secret that I know. when he shows up to the range, its time for me to leave.

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if you're gonna be a bear...

I got another one for you.

I know someone who had a 1911 in his waistband (mexican carry).

for some reason he decided to drop the hammer on a live round (while tucked in his waistband)

BANG!

big gouge in his thigh VERY LUCKY

He was suppose to come to me for proper carry and training with a 1911 but was an option since this was off duty at his house. He has never requested it.

OUCH!

He freely admits he was stupid.

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if you're gonna be a bear...

Everyone that owns a gun should read this:

http://www.negligentdischarge.com/

Warning, this IS NOT for the squeemish or those that are easily upset by life's unfortunate realities.

big holes and lucky guy....hopefully this will remind some people what power is in there hands.

I always treat any gun as if it is loaded until I verify and even then treat them with a lot of respect ! I have never had AD and was raised in a LEO family that always had loaded firearms in the home.Dad taught me at a young age to respect firearms.

There is only one safe attitude to have towards gunhandling. You must, every time you pick up a gun, remind yourself that you WILL have a negligent discharge at some time. Doing that helps keep you in the right frame of mind and paying attention, and increases the odds that it won't ever happen to you -- but if it does, at least no one will get hurt.

BTW, there is no such thing as an "accidental discharge" unless some piece of the gun's mechanism fails. Any shot fired without meaning to is negligence, no two ways about it.

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Pisgah

When I teach the Basic Pistol Course I have a complete section on Gun Cleaning.I emphasise that it should be like church with no distractions and teach to drop magazine,clear chamber,lock slide in the open position,and verify with fingers that the weapon is unloaded.Next put firearm down,empty magazine,count the total # of rounds,and get all ammunition out of the area and put in another room before proceeding.It is ignorance,carelessness or complacency that results in "Negligent Discharge"and safety ia always in the hands of the handler.....God Bless.....Mike

I was very good friends with a son of one of my coworkers who became a Virginia LEO.When he told me his service weapon was a 9mm Glock I warned him to always drop the magazine and clear the pistol verifying same before pulling the trigger and activating the breakdown lever.Well I found out last Thursday that he put a round thru his left femoral artery and after 18 units of blood and 3 hours of surgical repair his life was saved.One of the first things he said to his mom in the Recovery Room was "DON'T TELL MIKE".I am just happy that he survived....God Bless....Mike

If at any time you find yourself saying "I'm an expert at..." with anything to do with firearms, it is time to stop and do a very careful re-evaluation of everything you do. Why?

Because that's when nature will bite you in the ***.

ND's are most common when people get comfortable and familiar with handling arms. They take short cuts. They get a bit sloppy. They think "I know what I'm doing." And that's when things go wrong.

Remember, safe gun handling is ALWAYS. You don't get a free ride because you're tired, exhausted, coming down with the flu, have the flu, your best friend died or you're taking chemicals that do funny things to your brain. THERE ARE NO DAYS OFF FROM SAFETY.

Friend of mine was aboard the USS Lincoln when there was a watch change. Same drill as above in the wee hours of the morning, but receiver of the weapon put magazine in the pistol, dropped the slide and stuffed it in the holster. Then tried to put belt and holster on. He was standing near a hatch and the gun slid out, bouncing down the steps below deck. *bang* clatter-clatter *bang* thump *bang*! Watchstander scurries down after the pistol and sees, standing about 20 feet away a Lt.CDR standing perfectly still with his eyes wide open. He bullet had richocet'd right past him as he passed thru a hatchway.

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BillCA in CA (Unfortunately)

I have always sworn that an ND would never happen to me. But some things may truly be out of our control. Let me explain.
I was nuisance hunting last summer with my father in law's Rem 700 30.06. Beautiful gun by the way. After we were finished, I was attempting to clear the chamber of the unfired round. The safety was on which did not allow the bolt to turn. I pointed the gun in a safe direction, slipped the safety of and began to lift up on the bolt handle. The gun fired, scarin' the **** out of the three of us. I am positive that my finger was nowhere near the trigger. Of course, I was fighting with the safety and may have adjusted my grip

Only later did I find out that this gun had a trigger job done by a "knowledgeable" brother. Granted, this guys an engineer and has been doing his own trigger jobs for years. But maybe it wasn't my fault after all...

Anyway, lesson learned. Don't borrow in law's 30.06 again.

I had one several years ago I live in the country and have a falling plate machine and was shootin one evening with a model 52 the reloads were mine flush seated with Remington bullets and there must have been a shaving of lead or something because afte a shot the slide never went all the way to battery and I griped the slide and pushed it forward and BANG it fired I had left my finger on the trigger and 52's have a very lite pull it didnt hurt any thing but I had tighten my finger when I closed it thank God I was alone.