Throwaway because I'm too ashamed to write this on my main account. I never thought I would make such a series of idiotic mistakes. I have learned my lesson. This was a life-changing experience.Today I accidentally discharged my firearm. I carry a SW M&P Shield 9mm in a Stealthgear AIWB holster. I recently (three weeks ago) moved into a new house which has changed the way that I conceal while moving from the house to the car where I store my gun in a Remora holster tucked between the seat and the console on my right side for ease of access. There is a specific procedure I follow when I know that I am going to work where I am not permitted to carry. Another note, I am a graduate accounting student taking four classes in the middle of finals in my last semester. I'm stressed and overwhelmed and my mind is elsewhere. I also work part time. It's absolutely no excuse to let my guard down and neglect firearm safety, but I believe this stress and preoccupation was a factor that lead to this mistake. I know I am an idiot. Feel free to tell me such in the comments. I deserve it.In my old house, the process was to put the Stealthgear in the appendix position over my shirt and cover it with my backpack as I moved to the car. Once in the car I remove the entire holster, and transfer the gun to the Remora. When I get to the office, I put the gun with the Remora into the glove box and lock it.In this new house, we are closer to neighbors on the left and right, and the neighbors who live closest to my car like to spend time on their front porch. Because of the close proximity and increased presence, I didn't like the risk of them seeing my gun over my shirt just covered by my backpack, so I had been taking an alternate approach to concealment from the house to the car.The process I had been taking is to remove the gun from the holster while in the house, switching the safety on, and putting the gun in my pocket until I got to my car where I could remove it under concealment, switch the safety back off, and put it in the Remora. I did not practice this transition enough. What happened was, I engaged the safety properly last night when I moved from the house to the car, but I did not disengage the safety once I got to the car. As a result, I had been carrying the gun with the safety engaged unknowingly. When I come home at night, I don't worry so much about concealment, so I just carry the gun in the holster to the door and leave it in the holster until the next day. I have other home protection guns; this is only for carry.So come to today as I am preparing to leave for work. I get everything ready to go and then I move to put the gun into my pocket like I had dozens of times before. Here is where huge and very foolish mistakes were made. I removed the gun from the holster and absentmindedly flipped the safety without really thinking about it. I assumed that if I flipped it I was engaging the safety, but since I never disengaged it the night before, I really disengaged it now. As I moved the gun to my pocket, I did not follow proper trigger control and pulled the trigger to check the safety. VERY STUPID. NEVER CHECK THE SAFETY WITH THE TRIGGER. Never pull a trigger unless you literally want to fire the gun. Huge mistake huge, huge mistake.So the gun is in my pocket when I pull the trigger. Inches from my nether regions and basically in contact with my leg. The gun fires, the bullet travels down and away from me, blowing a huge hole in my pants from the muzzle fire, into my bed, through the bed, and into the hardwood floors. I was incredibly scared and very confused. I thought I was engaging the safety. I should have never pulled the trigger to check the safety. Huge, Huge mistake, and one that I will never make again. My leg is bruised and burned from the heat and burst.As a result of this, I have a plan of how to make sure it never happens again. I need to practice moving from the house to the car, something I didn't ever really think of practicing before. I will never check the safety of a gun using the trigger again, especially not with a loaded gun. I need to always be aware of the power that I carry with me every day. Firing a gun out of the context of a range is scary and eye-opening. I hope it never happens to you. I was incredibly lucky that nothing was hurt. via /r/CCW http://ift.tt/2gKI1uf
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