Why I'm an idiot.....learn from my mistake.

[SGeringer]

Seeing as this is first and foremost a LEARNING forum, I'll swallow my pride and admit something I'd just as soon never share with anyone ever again.

I had my first (and LAST) negligent discharge this past week. While it WAS an accident and not the product of playing, etc, I don't believe in the term "accidental" discharge. There is equipment malfunction and NEGLIGENT discharge. The latter category applies to me.

As some of you may know, my princess Milissa and I just moved into our first place. Things are quite hectic and we don't have any real furniture minus a mattress and box spring as everything else is in storage etc. So Weds. night Milissa took off for a bit and left sleeping Madison (2 yr old) and I at home. We had been camped around the TV watching our new cable (hmm....DVR) and in the absence of furniture, had brought out our pillows and comforter. After she left I decided to go to bed. I went into our bedroom and emptied my pockets, dropping most of the junk on the floor, except my GLOCK which I would of course not drop on the floor. I then left and retrieved the bedding, throwing it on the bed. Arranged the pillows roughly, popped into bed, and fell asleep. The last time I saw the clock radio it said 22:42.

2302; BOOM! I awoke quicker then I'd ever awoken in my life. I had been sleeping on my belly with my face pointing right and my right arm over the pillow. Apparently, I'd shifted while pressing down on the loaded GLOCK 23 and material from the bedding and/or pillow wedged into the trigger guard just right and set it off. To the GLOCK's credit, it fully cycled into battery with a new round. I FREAKED out. I bolted in to check on Maddy......she didn't even wake up. I ran back, cleared the weapon, and checked the trajectory. It had gone down slightly, through about 25 inches of mattress, and into a wall bordered by a walkin closet. The 135 grain Corbon JHP did not exit out the other side. I called the police shaking, letting them know I'd accidentally fired a round into my wall. Examining the bedding, there was a long bullet path in the pillowcase, and both the sheet and pillowcase had scorching. Milissa showed up a bit later and bless her heart did her best to make me feel better. Wasn't possible. I really messed up. The conditions just happened to be perfect and no one was hurt or even heard it. Despite an open window, the bedding muffled it. The cops showed up and, while they were very professional and good guys, I didn't appreciate the sermon about how even THEY thought loaded handguns in the house were ineffective and THEY call 911 and lock up guns. As they left the switched tact and recommended I put up the GLOCK at night and use my 12 gauge.

This is a learning forum. I did something INCREDIBLY stupid, but if it has even a minute amount of usefulness in terms of education, I'll be happy. Heap on the criticism, I deserve it. Nothing you could say will make me feel worse. My age and this incident notwithstanding, I take gun safety GRAVELY seriously and I have a lot of respect for and familiarity with the weapons that can be found on my person 24/7. The GLOCK naysayers can bite their tongues. It was NOT the weapon design and/or lack of safety. It was NOT circumstantial. There are no mitigating factors.....I am a *******. Please learn from my example. Use your nightstand and/or nightstand safe, and DO NOT lose track of your weapon for ANY reason.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[QKShooter]

That is a really odd and freakish discharge.
So...what are we all going to say that is going to make you feel worse than you already DO feel and...what would that accomplish?
I never believed that a person should beat themselves absolutely silly and then further on into a bigger pulp when they are already down on the ground.
You goofed and then dealt with it like a champ...you already ate your huge slice of "humble pie"....so you should absolutely move on & forward.
It SUCKED but, it happened...you did everything right afterward...nothing will change what already happened...learn something from it and then let it go bye~bye. Thankfully nobody was hurt and obviously you'll do your very best to never let it happen again.
Your life and your living conditions sound like they are temporarily in Total Disarray & that (for sure) contributed greatly to the unhappy "event" that occurred.
The Time Machine (sadly) has not been invented yet...you can't go back and relive the moment or change the past so...don't let it happen again and just be done with it.
I'm happy that you posted the thread so that others can learn from it. That took some "big time guts" & hopefully helped you to clear it all out of your system.
Be forever thankful that nobody was hurt (including yourself) and have a good weekend with your precious family.
My strong suggestion to you is that you do something really special with your family this weekend & realize how amazingly blessed you are that you have a loving wife and a beautiful kid and that you all are still OK & healthy.
Now is the PERFECT TIME for you to truly appreciate that.
If I honestly thought that it would help you out AT ALL if you "beat the crap" out of yourself over your unfortunate N.D. then I would tell you to go do it.
The only thing slamming yourself would do is destroy your self~confidence & that's NEVER a good thing.
Stay Safe! ~ Be Happy! Life is too short to spend it miserable and wallowing in the mire of a "Life~Boo~Boo" We all goof up sometimes. When we goof up and NOBODY GETS HURT...that is the VERY BEST sort of a goof to have.
Just my heartfelt opinion.

[Bumper]

I'm happy that you posted the thread so that others can learn from it. That took some "big time guts" & hopefully helped you to clear it all out of your system.

I agree with QK. I think we can all appreciate a reminder and a good example about what can happen when we aren't 100% careful. Negligent? Yeah, technically, it was, but it was also an accident, and one that any one of us could make (lets not hear any BS that it couldn't happen to YOU). At least you have had yours now and all is well. Thanks for posting it.

[triggertime]

SGeringer: Clarify something for me please. Are you saying that you fell asleep with a holstered Glock, which somehow worked itself out of its holster and discharged within the first 57 minutes of your slumber?

If this is correct, please inform us as to which holster you were using at the time, thanks.

[CombatEffective]

The part about putting up the Glock at night and using the 12ga isn't bad advice. We only carry handguns because they are handy. Use a real gun iff you have an opportunity.

Glad nobody was hurt.

[rstickle]

It sounds like you were very lucky, and a really freak accident.

Is it just me, or is there a high rate of accidental discharge with Glocks, as opposed to other brands of hand guns?

It just seem like almost every time I see something like this, a Glock is involved. I've see enough where I don't think I'd own one.

[FortyFive]

What everyone else has said, don't dwell on it learn from it. The ingriedents were there, being tired perhaps stressed a little and not organized in your living space. It may happen to anyone. The question I have is why was the glock not in a holster and why call the cops? Just interested, not prying or digging.
Thanks and most important no injury. Thanks for posting to remind us to be more careful.

[triggertime]

I've owned and carried Glock handguns for more than a decade. During that time, I have never had an accidental or negligent discharge.

Its not the Glock thats responsible, its always related to operator error or what I call 'cerebral flatuence', which is better know as the brain fart. As a rule of thumb, if you're prone to the development of cerebral gas, you will have negligent or accidental discharges with any firearm, not just a Glock. Glocks are safe.

In this case, I would blame the holster, not the operator. If you can't stand on your head without the gun falling out of the holster, then the holster is junk and accidents like this will happen no matter what.

[QKShooter]

Actually one of FortyFives questions.
Once you knew (for sure) that the offending "whoops bullet" did not exit your home & that nobody was hurt & likely nobody even heard anything...why did you feel it was necessary to still call the police?
Or...was it something that you just felt like you needed to do in the heat of that moment?
I can imagine that you were decently panicked & that sometimes rational thought "goes out the window" when the heart is a'pumpin' really hard.

[FortyFive]

QKShooter-I think your right, at a time when the stuff is for real you do what you think is right and got to do. I sure was not pressing for an answer but if one is given that would be ok.

[The Tourist]

I agree, man, let it go.

Think of all of the stupid things that I have done. It's been scores. I only feel guilty about one thing, but it's a doozy and I work daily to better the condition. If it's a deal-breaker, do the same in your life.

This was a very freak accident. Perhaps your mind cannot accept that. Then use the embarrassment to motivate your behavior.

Volunteer for a kids' hunter safety program. Teach them archery. Teach them to sharpen. In short, give them a springboard to evade the embarrassment you faced. God uses all events for ultimate good.

Trust me, it will be the hardest work you ever did. The first time you address someone it will be, "Hi, I'm Nimrod Wildfire, and I did the dumbest thing in my life. I'm here to teach."

If you think I'm kidding, PM my address. Comparitively, you dropped peanut butter on a good T-shirt.

[RSSZ]

Your only human. Stuff happens. You know what you did wrong. You will never do that again. IMHO you do not need to be beat up over it. ----What the LEO said I would expect them to say. Hell,you probably are more gun savy than them. You probably shoot more rounds per year than them. You probably are a better marksman than them. You probably take care of your(CCW) weapon better than they do. You definately care more about you and your families safety than they do. They know this. Don't you think that the cops have loaded firearms in their house to protect their families? They "had" to tell you these things so they could add it to their report.-------

[SGeringer]

SGeringer: Clarify something for me please. Are you saying that you fell asleep with a holstered Glock, which somehow worked itself out of its holster and discharged within the first 57 minutes of your slumber?

If this is correct, please inform us as to which holster you were using at the time, thanks.

I emptied my pockets and changed out of my pants, dropping them to the floor with the belt and CompTac still attached to them. The gun was unholstered.

As to why I called the cops, I was freaked out and it seemed like the right thing to do at the time, having just fired a weapon in such close quarters. I figured that someone would have heard it and called the cops, and I did not want to waste resources by having cops comb through the place. Only later did I realize that it was muffled and NO ONE heard it.

Thanks for the advice and kind words folks. Hard to feel better after such a lapse in judgement but thanks so much anyway.

[triggertime]

SGeringer: So you removed your Glock from the holster and dropped your pants... What did you do it after that? *curious*

[QKShooter]

Sounds To Me like OUR forum members are much more interested in exactly how the discharge occurred AKA the details & specifics of what exactly happened with the firearm...than in admonishing you or ripping into you over an obvious human error.
That is the way it should be with folks that are seriously interested in firearms & defensive shooting.
What a nice switch from what usually happens on some of the other forums!