Let’s do a hypothetical. Lets say I am in my basement of my home practicing dryfire. But I do something stupid by failing to empty the chamber before beginning practice. Sure enough I discharge a round with the first press of the trigger. I don’t think my neighbors heard it since I was in my basement. No one is hurt, just embarrassed. Should I call the USCCA? Am I suppose to call the police and inform them what just happened?
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No, sir, only for a self-defense situation but feel free to call and obtain resources to avoid that from happening.
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Hell NO !
You are obliged to call 911 to inform “shot fired” in public or if anybody is hurt.
Any negligent discharge that happens at your home and no help is needed… it’s your own business.
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I was speaking of calling USCCA only due to my tiredness & did not catch all of that.
I can’t speak for 911 but do however think if this really happens[ed] consider your choice well.
To clear that up for you, I mean that of calling 911 because what if your neighbor calls and reports are made about shots fired possibly saying came from your house.
In some situations, swat could be sent & we all know what those results.
Whatever choice made in this hypothetical should be taken with the thought of consequence of neglecting to call.
For Caddo parish, we have a website you can see all active/live 911 calls. In this hypothetical who ever stalls check and see if you have something similar.
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11th Commandment. Keep thy mouth quiet.
It never happened
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Most suburbanites won’t recognize it as a gun shot. Could just be a door slamming real hard. They also won’t know what direction it came from. If more than 1 round is heard, that would be a different thing.
When we lived in the burbs years (decades) ago, I shot a rabid opossum off the top of my fence during the day. The houses were side by side and like 10 feet apart. No one noticed, it was just a 22 round.
Yes, beyond the target was think woods with no trails, so you could see there was no one back there.
No harm no foul.
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@Patrick3 Patrick a couple years ago here in IL there was a sitting District judge. He’s a younger man sort of a player with the women. I believe that he’s in Kane County, IL. Well my point is that he had a negligent discharge in his Apartment. He had his IL CCW License and his IL FOID Suspended. He was reinstated after a period but since is on suspension again with the IL CCW, and IL FOID because this time an unrelated offense of sexual harassment of court employees plus sexual harassment of women offenders. So do not report a negligent discharge. It could also affect your job.
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Best thing to do is avoid it altogether in the first place. You have to decide how to proceed. Most places, you just broke a whole bunch of laws (discharging a firearm in city limits, etc).
I do appreciate you NOT calling it an accidental discharge.
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I’m a firm believer in don’t tell, don’t ask!
Theoretically you learned a good lesson, rule #1 the weapon is ALWAYS loaded.
Rule #2 the weapon is always loaded.
Luckily no one is hurt. I’m sure the muzzle was pointing in a direction where no one could get injured and you didn’t put a whole in your big screen tv.
What would you hope to gain by informing law enforcement? You would be red flagging yourself! We have liberals for that.
Whenever I practice dry fire, I check, check recheck then my wife checks. After all the checks are complete I say screw it and go to the range!
In all seriousness please observe rule #1 a firearm is ALWAYS loaded!
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I could not say it any better!
Thank you, sir! Reason why I agree because a right or wrong answer is hard to define but to each person may be different,
Like he said, try to avoid it in first place.
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Just so anyone thinks I’m an idiot, my original thread said “Let’s do a hypothetical” This was not an actual event. I do not dry fire with ammo even on the same floor of my home, let alone in the same room.
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@Patrick3 I don’t believe anyone thought that you were an idiot Patrick, I certainly didn’t. I only took the question as something you were curious about and something that has meaning to you. Relax we’re all friendly here and we all enjoy all of our community friends.
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Thanks Robert8. I am truly interested in what I would do in such a given situation. I’ve asked myself that several times. I appreciate everyone’s response to my thread. I do wish we could have heard from some of our legal eagles that frequent our conversations.
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@Patrick3 Well @MikeBKY has been MIA for a few days, probably very busy or hopefully not got a cold or something else. When he sees your posting (and he will see it) he will give you a legal opinion on your question.
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Hypothetical is totally understood, I imagine if your on this site you know how to handle your weapons.
However, I write with the understanding that there are newcomers to the whole carry lifestyle and I try to put out info from my training. Younger folks new to carrying must understand the 4 basic rules of weapons handling.
Unfortunately there are folks out there that have experienced your hypothetical, except some may have ended up in a hospital or worse. So my message is always safety. I drilled this into my kids and grand kids. The more we drill the safer our community becomes.
You are no idiot.
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I actually had to race to a friends house years ago to repair a section of flooring before his wife got home. By the time I arrived we had approximately 45 minutes to do the job. He wouldn’t tell me over the phone what happened, but when I got there it was obvious. We ended up rigging the hole decent enough it wasn’t terribly noticeable and where it happened we were able to move a laundry basket over close enough it wasn’t out of place. The cover up lasted until he sold the house and moved. We didn’t call anyone. Nobody was injured and he was actually able to recover the round. We did however spend a good long while talking about safely cleaning firearms.
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Agreed with @Scott5, it can happen to any of us!
Nobody is exempt from this happening. One thing, I do that was learned through USCCA is actually put my finger to physically assure its clear (an instructor at the range asked me one time what the heck was I doing).
Here is a source all of us could re-read—read to avoid this scenario. Thanks for sharing bro! && glad no one was hurt.
https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/blog/avoiding-negligent-discharge/
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Paul has a video for everything.
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Sorry I missed this yesterday. I was working on taxes all day 
! I am alive and well!
I will caveat with the disclaimer about only being licensed in Kentucky, blah, blah, blah, and can only give advice on Kentucky law.
There are two things almost every gun owner has done and will likely never do again because it has happened. The first is getting a slide bite - you know, that thumb from the other hand getting sliced by the the slide because your thumb is behind the grip, not aligned with it. The second is an ND.
My ND happened at the range and the weapon was pointed at the ground and no one was in front of me. Has not happened since.
My son had his last year and shot the bathroom door, through a hall wall and out (almost) the mantel.
My advice would be to not call police or other authorities if no crime has been committed and no one was hurt. If in an apartment that may be different.
If someone calls the police, I wouldn’t lie to them but know that you do not speak to them. You can tell them everything is alright.
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