“If you’ve been around guns for at least five minutes, you’ve undoubtedly heard the terms “negligent discharge” and “accidental discharge”. Some people use these terms interchangeably. Others will pedantically insist that “there is no such thing as an accidental discharge, only a negligent discharge.” The truth is that there is such a thing as both a negligent discharge and an accidental discharge, and while both involve an unintentional firing of a shot, they are not the same thing. Let’s examine the difference in an effort to make you safer when handling a gun.
First, a brief discussion about firearm safety
Before we get into the definition of each, let’s review the Four Universal Firearm Safety Rules, to which we will refer frequently in our discussion.
Rule #1: Treat every gun as if it is loaded. Even if you know the gun is unloaded, treat it with the same level of respect as you would a loaded gun.
Rule #2: Never let the muzzle cover anything you’re not willing to destroy. The fact that the gun is unloaded is not an excuse to violate this rule (see rule #1).
Rule #3: Keep your finger off the trigger and outside the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot. The only time your finger goes on the trigger is when you are pointed in at a target and prepared to shoot.
Rule #4: Be sure of your target and what is in line with your target. You must be certain that what you are about to shoot is a valid target, and there is nothing in front of or behind it that you are not willing to shoot.
Chief among their purposes, the Four Universal Firearms Safety Rules serve two goals:
1.) Prevent negligent discharges
2.) Mitigate the effects of both negligent and accidental discharges
Understanding this, let’s now explore the difference between negligent and accidental discharges.
Negligent Discharge
A negligent discharge is an unintentional firing of a shot due to a violation of the Four Universal Firearms Safety Rules, or other improper weapon handling. In the case of a negligent discharge, the fault lies entirely with the person handling the gun, and could have been prevented. In the vast majority of cases, the negligent discharge occurs due to a failure to observe Rule 3. In many of these cases, it also involves a lack of proper mindset or respect for the weapon, or a failure to observe Rule 1. In fact, it can be said that the most dangerous gun is the “unloaded” gun, because the handler may feel free to violate safety rules, often with tragic results.
Accidental Discharge
An accidental discharge in the unintentional firing of a shot not due to improper gun handling and through no fault of the person handling the gun. In the vast majority of cases, an accidental discharge is due to mechanical failure or equipment malfunction.
An example of an accidental discharge I heard about recently involved a law enforcement officer. She was in uniform, carrying her duty weapon in its holster, and carrying a backpack slung over her shoulder. As she approached her car, she lowered the backpack off her shoulder and began to place it in the car. At that moment, her gun (still in the holster) discharged into the ground. In the investigation afterward, it was determined that a strap from the backpack had slid into the holster and through the trigger guard as she lowered the bag. As she then tossed the bag into the car, the strap pulled up on the trigger, causing the discharge. I would call this an accidental discharge, because the officer didn’t do anything improper. You could argue the holster is to blame, since it failed to keep the foreign object out of the trigger guard, but the officer was not at fault.”
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