This isn't kayak related but none the less applies

Ok I am gonna start with saying that these statements will probably win me the vote of most incompetent...And I'm sure a lot of anti gun topics will spawn from it

I will start with a conversation I had at work several weeks ago...A co-worker had at one point in time shot himself in the foot with a 10mm handgun.  He was going to clean the gun and accidentally discharged the firearm in the process...Me and my boss (a major gun advocate) were discussing this and I said "I don't understand how somebody can not know there is a round in the chamber."

I now retract all previous statements.

I accidentally fired a gun in my basement apartment tonight at 9:00 pm...An XD-.45 Compact bi-tone pistol
Luckily for me and others nobody was injured..My firearms handling was at least safe enough to have the gun pointing at a target that was relatively safe to shoot...
I was sitting down with music going on the computer and practicing the trigger pull on my pistol...The loaded magazine was not in the gun and it was sitting on the table in front of me...I had pull the trigger many times already learning when the trigger engages and resets.  Not paying much attention and wanting to put the firearm away for the night I inserted the magazine into the pistol...I did not chamber a round because I normally do not keep a round chambered because I fear I will wake up in the middle of the night and hear a sound of a "robber" in the house and fire without thinking...At least if I have to chamber a round first I have to actively think about the target I am engaging first...Obviously this theory doesn't work

I was distracted by something on the radio and not paying much attention...I eventually got back to attending the gun but had forgotten that I had put the magazine in the pistol...I racked the slide as to take another practice shot...aim at the ground and pulled the trigger BOOOOOOMMMMM....My ears ringing I begin to wonder if I am dreaming...Then the smoke clears and I see the hole in the cabinet and smell the gun powder....it's not a dream...I just fired a .45 in my house

I have the case and the slug here to prove it (and the hole in both the cabinet and the carpet)  I just accomplished what only a few days ago I thought to be nearly impossible.  Immediately I drop the magazine rack the slide to extract the next round and lock the pistol up...Because I was holding the pistol in the high ready position and not expecting any recoil from my practice shot the pistol had reared back and caught me just below the eye which is now bleeding pretty good....

Now mind you I live in a basement apartment below my landlords in the middle of west seattle...I begin to wonder if anyone had heard the blast and would be knocking on the door...a minute goes by and nothing...5 minutes go by and nothing....10 minutes go by and nothing...finally I decide I am just going to go upstairs knock on the door and tell them...I knock on the door and they open after a bit and I say did you not just hear that...They said ya I heard something but I don't know what it was...I said That was a .45 going off in your basement...You didn't know what that was?  They say oh I thought it kinda sounded like a gunshot

I could hear them walking around the kitchen immediately after I fired the pistol...Now in there defense the landlord and I had just moved a very heavy card table into the garage and stood it up on its side...so they thought it was the card table falling over which they checked but saw that it hadn't and just wrote it off as some odd loud noise.

So if your going to handle a firearm...don't have the tv going (thats how my co-worker shot himself), the radio (how i shot the house up), or any other distractions going at the time you practice or clean your firearms or any other form of handling your firearm. (and don't think experience will get you anywhere. My co-worker had been handling firearms all his life...I have been handling firearms since about 14 though not all that often till now)

P.S.
The worst part is I just bought this firearm Saturday...It wasn't a lack of knowledge of firearms or the specific operation of the firearm...I own other firearms and they weren't a problem....It was as simple as not paying attention for a few seconds...What a birthday to remember...I'll never forget my 24th birthday...the day I shot the .45 in my house.

Wow.  I was with you.  I've never known how someone "didn't know" there wasn't a round in the chamber... A moment of absent mindedness can come very easily.

In the grand scheme of things, this was a very lucky incident.

Damn man, that's kinda scary. Good thing the gun wasn't pionted up or at yourself. Distracted and guns are definetly not a good combination.

Had some chick accidently fire her gun in a house with about 5 people in it a long time ago, luckily nobody was hurt in that incident either

Wont get any Anti-Gun sentimenets from me, love 'em. Went shooting today, but not in my house!!

Scary isn't it.  I have been in your shoes.  I was in high school (grew up hunting/competitive shooting, knew gun safety )., was in a friends basement doing the same thing, listening to tunes, shooting pool and checking out my new .22 pistol,  got distracted and slapped a loaded mag in and without thinking racked the slide and discharged a round into the pool table about 6 feet in front of me, missing my friend by a few feet.  Scary! time just stood still, no one said a thing, the "tape" rolling in my head of what almost just happened scared the holy crap out of me.  A mixture of terror, shame and guilt that I will never forget.   Learned valuable lessons that day, of course the obvious ones concerning gun safety, and, that there are some things you just don't mention to your folks , but more importantly how fast little mistakes can have the potential to change your life or the lives of others around you permanently.  Don't beat yourself up, just file this away into the "don't forget this shit" folder of your brain.  AND BE CAREFUL from now on!

Way to celebrate your birthday Mark...  Most of us have a few beers; you gotta shoot up your place.  

Good to hear you're okay.  What did your landlord have to say after you told him you just let off a round in his basement?

I've honestly never understood why people pull the trigger without meaning to shoot - I just don't get that 'practice' thing.  I always figured practice was done with live rounds at a target.   

But don't feel bad just because it's a gun.  Driving a car, for example, and getting distracted for a few seconds can kill you, a kid on a bike, or an entire family. 

I accidentally fired a gun in my basement apartment tonight at 9:00 pm...An XD-.45 Compact bi-tone pistol

...Because I was holding the pistol in the high ready position and not expecting any recoil from my practice shot the pistol had reared back and caught me just below the eye which is now bleeding pretty good....

Hmmmmm,
Like my doctor says every time I show her how my back twinges when I twist around sideways: "don't do that."
I'm glad your okay and your cabinet was the only other casualty. Happy Birthday (you should go fishing)

Welcome to the ND club  .

The good thing is, no one was hurt (and that you weren't practicing trigger control while aiming at your TV or Computer screen).  Take it as a learning opportunity. 

Since this was a brand new pistol, do you think part of the reason why it happened was unfamiliarity with the weight of the pistol loaded and unloaded?  I know that my .45 is quite a bit heavier with a full magazine in than out.

Wow! I mean... wow. Glad no one was hurt.

True

NO GUNS FOR YOU!!

Z

Remind me not to go halibut fishing with any of these guys.

YN,
it was shock, i know, but trust me, even certified instructors can have an accidental discharge

'bout 12 years ago i was a partner in a small security comapny in San Antone. we were also certified to do Texas State Firearm certification  for the then newly opened CWP program.

one morning prior to set up and start of class, our primary, Patrick, was removing his 380 from it's IWB holster back in the classroom, and out in the front room, we hear "POP!!" followed by dead silence. Our senior parnter goes to investigate, and finds Patrick on the floor in shock and crying.. he never hit himself, it went downward thru the carpet and ricocheted between the carpet and the concrete slab for about 50 feet, and was stopped by a baseboard frame., it was his 1st AD, and it was his last. after he calmed down, he handed Earnest his pistol, told us, "I Quit", and walked out.

2 days later, we get a call from the Texas gov't agency that controls instructor licensing, and they tell us that he voluntarily turned in his credentials   this was a man who had been teaching professionally for over 15 years all over the country,  and had never had an AD or incident on the line of any type. i can only suppose that the shock was too much for him or that he had promised himself that he would stop teaching if such an incident had occured.

use this as a learning point, and next time, turn off the distractions before working with your gun. thankfully, it wasn't pointed upwards or back at yourself.

YN,
an accidental discharge

I thought that only happened while dreaming

only in your house, Jay

only in your house, Jay

cha-ching...