I've been meaning to tell this story for awhile, but I hate bringing a bad name to gunowners who can handle the responsibility without being a dumbass. This is 100% the biggest mistake and most embarrassing moment of my life, and I'm not sure I've completely come to terms with what happened.This was nearly 10 years ago when I was in high school. Grew up around guns and was taught early on the rules of firearm safety. But in our house we treated them too much like toys. We took them out every weekend to have fun, and I got complacent.My dad just brought home a new carry gun and we were excited about it. "Damn, this thing is light... Feels good in the hand... That trigger is so nice.." We were messing around with it for an hour or so before my mom got home from work. I started talking to her, and in that time, my dad loaded the gun because he was intending to carry it later. I don't remember if he told me it was loaded, but if I just followed a few simple rules that wouldn't matter.I picked it up and pointed it at the window to our backyard (without checking if it was loaded), but as I was pulling the trigger, the pull felt heavier than normal. I put the gun down by my hip, keeping it pointed in the same direction, and checked the safety. Safety was off. "What the hell?" I squeezed a little harder (while it was down at my hip without checking where it was pointed), and BANG. My ears are ringing. Everyone's yelling at me. Few seconds pass and my dad asks my mom, "Are you hit?" She looks down and she's bleeding pretty good from her leg. My dad makes her sit down and gets a towel to put pressure on it. I run to the phone and call 911. I was pretty hysterical, but I managed to tell them what was going on. "We had a negligent discharge. My mom's been hit in the leg. Send an ambulance." Like 5 minutes pass. I'm freaking out and crying in a corner. There's a lot of blood on the floor. Like 10 police cars show up along with a firetruck and ambulance in a typical suburban subdivision. Ambulance hauls my mom off while all the neighbors are outside wondering what's going on. Police take statements, take the gun, tell me it's not going on my record, and then leave. Then my dad and I head up to the hospital.She was in a room and stabilized by the time we got there. The bullet went in her ass and out her leg, missing her femoral artery by about a half inch. Said she never felt a thing until they started packing the wound. She tried making light of it, "Those were my favorite pants." But I was physically unable to smile. The whole ride over I was thinking about how easy that bullet could've killed someone, and all the different mistakes I made that compounded into this. She was fine though. They kept her in the hospital for a night and let her go. Bruising lasted a couple weeks which she said sucked.All my family and some close friends know what happened. No one's ever asked me about it though. Occasionally someone will make a joke about it and I'll try to be a good sport, but it's not at all funny to me. I fucked up big time, and it's something I often lie awake at night thinking about. We got the gun back from the police after like 2 years of continually calling them. It's what I carry every day now. I sure as fuck learned my lesson. Every weapon is to be treated as if it's loaded. via /r/CCW https://ift.tt/324rSsk
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