I finally had a negligent discharge

[JERRYS.]

well, it was with a taser but same principle. rasslin' with some moron I just put in cuffs, I go to holster my taser with my weak hand and bump my arm on something. We were on a porch and the loud mouth burly bear of a woman that was his better half was off to my side. I instinctively closed my hand to make a fist thinking she was inserting herself in the arrest and pop goes the taser. darts into the floor right in front of me. the taser was in the low ready and pulled in close to my body... no harm no foul but I still felt like a rookie.

[Bowdog]

Glade it worked out for you. God bless you and all that work in LE.

[Aguila Blanca]

Do you have to report every Taser discharge the same as you have to report any time you fire your duty weapon?

[American Man]

No one is immune from human error. I'm glad you could quickly put this behind you.

[TXAZ]

Better to hear a Taser than a bang.

[Sharkbite]

Dude, id put that down as a TASER warning shot. Just sayin.

[JERRYS.]

Originally Posted by Aguila Blanca

Do you have to report every Taser discharge the same as you have to report any time you fire your duty weapon?

not in the case mentioned. LOL

different departments have SOPs that require a use of force anytime its drawn, discharged or not.

[DaleA]

I honestly don't know what to think when something like this happens. I mean even Massad Ayoob had an accidental discharge:
https://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/...chable-moment/

Obviously we should all keep on trying really, really hard to be safe so maybe the take away is to "remain vigilant" but if it can happen to folk with so much more firearm expertise and experience than the average guy...

Glad your situation turned out okay.

[JERRYS.]

Originally Posted by DaleA

I honestly don't know what to think when something like this happens. I mean even Massad Ayoob had an accidental discharge:
https://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/...chable-moment/

Obviously we should all keep on trying really, really hard to be safe so maybe the take away is to "remain vigilant" but if it can happen to folk with so much more firearm expertise and experience than the average guy...

Glad your situation turned out okay.

no excuse, but to try to put things into perspective, while the taser handling follows the same basic handling protocol, it is not considered a deadly weapon and sadly the fact is folks don't revere it in such a manor. I'm not saying I was complacent, but I have to admit I do not have the same pucker factor when handling a taser as I do with a gun due in part to their life/death possibilities. 34 years of formal firearm handling and no mishaps, then a taser discharge ruins it.

[Lohman446]

I honestly don't know what to think when something like this happens. I mean even Massad Ayoob had an accidental discharge:

Two. He details the most recent one as his second. That article does a good job of discussing and illustrating why layers of safety are so important. In this case the gun was believed empty (having been checked by multiple individuals) but still was discharged unintentionally or negligently. I hesitate to use the term negligent in this case as the multiple layers of safety that were followed prevented anyone from being injured.

To me this is important. A negligent discharge basically requires multiple layers of failure and someone being injured.

In the case of the OP while the discharge was unintentional multiple layers of safety (he was not pointing it at anyone) prevented it from being negligent.

Negligent is a big word that carries big meaning. While we sometimes use the word "accidental" discharge where we should be using negligent we can make the mistake in reverse

[TunnelRat]

I don't personally see a negligent discharge as requiring injury. I've had a negligent discharge. No one and no significant property was damaged, but I still consider myself negligent. To me a true accidental discharge is extremely rare and usually requires a mechanical failure.

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[Lohman446]

No one and no significant property was damaged, but I still consider myself negligent. To me a true accidental discharge is extremely rare and usually requires a mechanical failure.

I wonder if there is not some middle ground on this one. I can understand the argument that an accident requires mechanical failure and in fact its being considered in how we reference vehicle crashes - these are becoming "incidents" and not accidents. I tend towards the idea of unintentional when other layers of safety prevent injury or excessive damage.

Pointing a gun at someone you do not intend to shoot with your finger on the trigger is negligent (even if there is no shot). Firing a weapon into the ground. Not so much. Sure your finger should not have been on the trigger but you were not negligent because you followed other layers of safety.

I think... could be wrong and this is kind of feeling like one of those paths I start down and try to figure out why I did later.

[TunnelRat]

I get where you're going. To me there are levels of negligence. While yes I deliberately had my muzzle oriented to prevent injury, I was still negligent in that I had a round chambered when I believed I did not.

I use the term negligent because to me it still acknowledges personal blame. An "accident" is to me something I couldn't avoid, but that's not really the dictionary definition.

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[JERRYS.]

the word I used when notifying my uppers was "unintentional taser discharge". but I like the warning shot phrase. LOL

[armoredman]

In my Dept, you DO have to report it as the cartridge must be replaced in the bay and the computer inside the taser will record the discharge as well, and are sometimes downloaded by Taser certified armorers who have to report little discrepancies like that up the chain. Bad juju. It records every time it is turned on, drive stun is activated, or discharged. AT least the newer ones are multishot capable, so if bridezilla had charged thinking the Taser was now useless, she would have been in for an electrifying experience, quite shocking, actually.

[USNRet93]

I think they happen, negligent(unintentional trigger squeeze) and accidental(something breaks)..but at least not as bad as this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gubz2UG7W4&t=111s

[rodfac]

Thanks for your sevice, JERRY...and glad it worked out OK for you.

Personally, I think there are far more negligent discharges than we think...complacency, as in my NG, is the factor. The NG made me far more conscious of my gun handling, training, hunting, plinking et.al., procedures...I'm a safer/better shooter for it and thank my lucky stars, no one was hurt.

The gun in question, a Colt Woodsman .22, had a glitch in its magazine/frame interface...it wouldn't always feed the last cartridge in the mag. And the next time the mag was inserted, the slide dropped, it would feed. Clearing the gun after a range session, I walked back to the house, but decided to get in one more dry fire....and it fired...safe direction...scared the hell out of me.

All guns are loaded all the time
Never cover anything with the muzzle that you're not willing to destroy
Finger off the trigger till aligned with the target
Be sure of your target and what's in front of and behind it

Hope all's well out there with you guys in blue, be safe. Rod

[shafter]

It can happen to anyone, no matter who you are or how experienced you are. That's why keeping your finger off the trigger, and keeping the muzzle pointed in a safe direction is so important. If you fail in one of these the other prevents any harm from happening.

[Pahoo]

I finally had a negligent discharge

Have never had one but have come too close for comfort and nothing to crow about. …..

For the most part, I've been saved by trying to "live" the four basic Firearms Rules ……

Be Safe !!!

[T. O'Heir]

"...into the floor right in front of me..." Better there than into anyone you had hold of. You'd never hear the end of a self-tasering in the locker room.
Rescued a copper who had driven his car onto a snow covered cement slab, years ago. Asked him if he had a "recovery" he could call. He lied right to my face when he said he had some place he had to be. I could hear the locker room comments. The CF not being a great deal different. Never did get the 'Get out of jail free' card I asked him about.

[rodfac]

For the most part, I've been saved by trying to "live" the four basic Firearms Rules ……

Good advice Rod

[davidsog]

It can happen to anyone, no matter who you are or how experienced you are.

The tolerance is zero for one in certainly elements of the military as it should be.....

I spent well over twenty years in that arena which is nothing special considering all who came before me as well as all who come after will have to do the same.

High speed is nothing more than knowing the basics really really well AND living them.