We all celebrate the fact that the last two years have broken every existing record for first-time gun owners entering our ranks. We celebrate that permissive concealed carry laws have become the norm, not the exception, nationwide, including the steady growth of constitutional (permitless) carry. BUT…let’s all be safe, okay?
Every negligent discharge is ammo for the antis. Though accidental firearm injuries and deaths are exceedingly rare — in 2018 there were 458 unintentional firearm-related fatalities, which accounted for less than 0.33 percent of all unintentional deaths in the U.S. that year — they make the news and they shoot gun rights and, especially, carry rights in the foot.
These are just a fraction of the news stories about negligent discharges from just the last couple of weeks:
Man literally shoots himself in the foot at a gun show
ND in the bathroom at a Buffalo Wild Wings
ND in a shopping mall food court (covered very heavily in the news, most of which uses it as proof that CCW laws are dangerous)
Man shot himself in the hand while drawing his firearm because he heard gunshots in the area
ND kills South Lake Tahoe man
School Resource Officer NDs. Apparently was handling his firearm in his office.
School liaison officer NDs. The story is that he bumped his holstered firearm with his backpack while removing the backpack, and the gun discharged.
Man NDs into his apartment ceiling
After seeing a couple of negligent discharge stories in my feed I did a search for ‘gun discharge’ and all of these and many more fresh stories popped up.
Seek out training. Be careful. Don’t mess with your firearm when it’s holstered.
One tip I might give would be to remove your holstered firearm in its holster when you take it off at night and secure it in your bedside safe or if you must remove it from your belt and set it down in the bathroom or whatever. Replace it on your belt in its holster. Treating the gun in its holster as a single unit and avoiding drawing and holstering eliminates one of the very largest ND-inducing scenarios.
Be safe out there, kids. Don’t shoot us all in the foot.
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