Injured by a ND, Wanted to Share Thoughts

[HKGuns]

Glad no permanent damage.

Look on the bright side. You just verified those USP experts are damned accurate!

[Mjolnir]

Thank you for sharing!

There is a lot to be learned from your experiences - mainly the immediate after effects and mental aspects.

Stay focused and HEAL.


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[Pappabear]

Glad no permanent damage.

Look on the bright side. You just verified those USP experts are damned accurate!

LOL, Those Experts are so nice, its a sad story involving his great gun. Again, get well soon and take that Expert back out. Guns don't shoot people!!

All the best

PB

[Dionysusigma]

Apologies for the delay in keeping up with the thread - yesterday kicked my ass at physical therapy. Went in for a checkup and finally got some X-Rays of the damage (hosted off-site to avoid thumbnail images for those that really don't want to see them):

Clicky -

View of the whole board

Front view

Side view, whole lower leg

Same side view but closer in on the fracture

Close-in imaging, side view, slightly different positioning of leg

I got myself pretty good, though again it could've been a lot worse. And yes, those are bone fragments out from where they should be. I'm surprised that it looks like a tree that got hit off-center, taking bark and a bit of the wood along with it. Pain's still not too bad (hell, toothaches and sinus pressure headaches still reign supreme for me), but still isn't much fun. I go in for another set in a couple of weeks, and if there's any interest, I'll post those too - I know I'm at least intrigued.

[Pappabear]

At the end of the day, you got lucky it was not mucho worse. Couple inches another way, a lot more tools and wrenches and plates and screws. Again, good luck.

PB

[Dionysusigma]

Couple inches another way, a lot more tools and wrenches and plates and screws.

Been an aircraft mechanic for 11 years... I like what I do, but not enough to become what I do, heh.

[Pappabear]

Been an aircraft mechanic for 11 years... I like what I do, but not enough to become what I do, heh.

LOL Roger that

[MistWolf]

1) No more round in the chamber until I fully expect to pull the trigger within 30 seconds. I don't carry, so no concern there.

2) Nothing more than music during admin work with guns. No movies, not even conversations.

Those two so far, and will add more as I think of them.

Edited to add:

3) I may even start leaving the magazine out of my bedside pistol. Though I've never sleepwalked, I have practiced reload drills, and am confident I could bring a gun to ready within a reasonably quick time from a condition of mag out, barrel empty, slide forward.

To be bunt and completely honest, none of your "fixes" will work because none of them address the root cause of the negligent discharge: Complacency. Continue to be complacent and the problem, which is a software problem, will not be fixed by the above hardware solution. In fact, I can see how solution 1 and 3 will exacerbate complacency.

Not watching movies while handling firearms won't fix a thing. It's a distraction, but so are a million other things that happen while handling firearms. On the surface, it sounds like a fine idea, but it's not. Quite the opposite, actually. What you need to do is not turn off the TV before handling firearms, you need to focus on what you're doing, regardless of the distractions. You need to be able to handle firearms safely regardless of what's going on around you. If a simple movie is too distracting, how much more so will be someone trying to force their way into your home? Or shooting at you? Or if your room mate is the one who is passing out from blood loss and needs a tourniquet? You've go to be able to stay focused and stay safe.

I got my wakeup call when I had an ND that came within inches of grave tragedy. No one was hurt, but potential of its consequences hit me in the gut with the force of an iron fist. It was all due to a moment of my own complacency exactly like yours. I racked the slide, then removed the magazine, then pressed the trigger to drop the hammer. Since that incident, I always stop and take myself out of autopilot before handling a firearm. I cannot afford to become complacent again. The price is far too high for me to pay.

If you truly want to fix the situation, train out complacency. Replace complacency with competency.

[LMT Shooter]

......I always stop and take myself out of autopilot before handling a firearm.

Great advice. I've had a ND, I know others who have, and many in this thread have told their personal ND stories. The thing that comes up, in almost every case, is a person who is performing a task they have done many times before. A lot of folks use the term "complacency" and while it may be correct, if I had just been thinking about what I was doing, I wouldn't have had my ND, and I think all, or at least a huge majority of, the other ND's I know of/heard of could have been prevented in the same fashion. The complacency leads us to believe that we can do something without thinking while we do it, and sometimes a loud bang follows.

And making yourself think when you're repeating a task you've done umpteen times is really, really tough.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery brother, and good on you for having the nutsack to post your tale here.

[young_gun]

I had an ND a couple of months ago that put a round into the wall at my parents house. Luckily it was in a safe direction and it didn’t go all the way through the wall, but like everyone else has said, it puts everything into perspective. I was dry firing and I left the room to do something, but before I did I loaded the pistol. I decided I needed to continue dry firing when I go back to the room but I didn’t check the pistol again because it was “unloaded”

Now I remove all ammo from the room I dry fire in, check the pistol visually and physically. Check it again. Check it again. And announce aloud that the pistol is clear and that I am beginning to dry fire. I think that actually announcing it helps break the autopilot that a lot of people get into. The most important thing for me is also announcing that dry fire is over, and no matter what, not dry firing again without going through the steps again.