Negligent Discharge

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Say for some odd reason you were to have a negligent discharge in your home, maybe you fumbled your weapon or dropped it, or just not following proper gun safety.....



Are you requird to inform police or anything?

I'm sure neighbors would call the polces and report hearing gun shots or something.... so what happends if this sort of thing were to happen and what are you required to do.

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I'm actually new here, but I CCW anytime the following conditions are met:
1) I'm on my own property
2) My pants are on
For that reason, I've given some thought to the matter. I haven't found any indication that you are legally obligated to report a ND. Deliberate or not, it may be considered a crime and it is generally in the interest of your 5th amendment rights to keep your mouth shut.

That said, first you would need to determine the terminal resting place. If there is evidence that the bullet left your property and/or had the potential to harm another person, I would advise calling 911 to explain that you had an ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE and that while you had absolutely no intention of it happening, you are concerned with where the bullet ended up.

If on the other hand, the backstop contained the bullet (such as a dry fire backstop) then I would keep my mouth shut. Neighbors will most likely pass a single shot off as a fire cracker. Even if they call 911 to report a possible shot fired, the most :dude: can do is circle around the area looking for anything that seems out of place.

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inbox485 wrote:

Deliberate or not, it may be considered a crime and it is generally in the interest of your 4th amendment rights to keep your mouth shut.

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Perhaps you mean your 5th amendment against self incrimination?

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inbox485 wrote:

SNIP If there is evidence that the bullet left your property and/or had the potential to harm another person, I would advise calling 911 to explain that you had an ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE and that while you had absolutely no intention of it happening, you are concerned with where the bullet ended up.

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I'm not sure I agree with that.

Unless you know where it went, and who it hit or might have hit, orsee that it damaged property or something, I can't see any point in having the police drive around looking for the impact.

Now, if it went through the neighbor's bedroom window or you hear screaming from somebody injured, that is a different story.

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Keep your mouth shut dont do it again If it does strike someone and you hear it then maybe call your attorney first

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Citizen wrote:

inbox485 wrote:

SNIP If there is evidence that the bullet left your property and/or had the potential to harm another person, I would advise calling 911 to explain that you had an ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE and that while you had absolutely no intention of it happening, you are concerned with where the bullet ended up.

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I'm not sure I agree with that.

Unless you know where it went, and who it hit or might have hit, orsee that it damaged property or something, I can't see any point in having the police drive around looking for the impact.

Now, if it went through the neighbor's bedroom window or you hear screaming from somebody injured, that is a different story.

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That is exactly what I meant. Only I would wait to hear screaming (it doesn't always happen). If it appears to have entered another building, and you don't report it, you could be in deeper doodoo than if you call right away. Ignoring it would be (rightly so) considered a disregard for the safety of others.

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nukechaser wrote:

inbox485 wrote:

Deliberate or not, it may be considered a crime and it is generally in the interest of your 4th amendment rights to keep your mouth shut.

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Perhaps you mean your 5th amendment against self incrimination?

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I stand corrected. Post fixed.

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stuckinchico wrote:

Keep your mouth shut dont do it again If it does strike someone and you hear it then maybe call your attorney first

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Assuming you have an attorney, I'd be interested in what he would say to that, but IMO calling your attorney first (or other delay) would show a disregard for the health of who ever you may have hit and you would probably find any legal action against you would have more momentum and less sympathy for being an accident.

Even if somebody was hit and able to call 911, an ambulance would not enter the area until they were told it was safe. That would mean either the police secure the area or YOU report your ND so that they know the area isn't hot.

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I read somewhere in the news... not quite sure whch one im sorry...



but about a week or two ago i guess in Long Beach, a lady was asleep on a swing bench or something to that affect, with her husband on their front porch and was struck in the head by a falling bullet that the police think was from a bar fight a mile or 10 blocks away, someone shot a round into the air to break up a fight...

(i know this has nothing to do with negligent discharge, but none the less negligent judgetment of round placement)



so remember no matter what... the ground is usually the safest place to keep your barrel pointed at until you actaully are shooting.

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inbox485 wrote:

Citizen wrote:

inbox485 wrote:

SNIP If there is evidence that the bullet left your property and/or had the potential to harm another person, I would advise calling 911 to explain that you had an ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE and that while you had absolutely no intention of it happening, you are concerned with where the bullet ended up.

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I'm not sure I agree with that.

Unless you know where it went, and who it hit or might have hit, orsee that it damaged property or something, I can't see any point in having the police drive around looking for the impact.

Now, if it went through the neighbor's bedroom window or you hear screaming from somebody injured, that is a different story.

Click to expand...

That is exactly what I meant. Only I would wait to hear screaming (it doesn't always happen). If it appears to have entered another building, and you don't report it, you could be in deeper doodoo than if you call right away. Ignoring it would be (rightly so) considered a disregard for the safety of others.

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This sort of thing has actuallycome up a few times already. Negligent discharge in an apartment went through a floor or wall into another.

The NDer, in the cases I recall reading about, immediately went and checked himself, as opposed to calling. Nobody was hurt in theones I read about.

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eraseallhope wrote:

so remember no matter what... the ground is usually the safest place to keep your barrel pointed at until you actaully are shooting.

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Towards the ceiling is probably better if you're on the top floor. That's where I aim when I chamber a round.

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No. You are not required to inform anybody of an accidental discharge. Even if there were such a law requiring this, it would clearly violate our right to not incriminate ourselves.

However, you might want to inform someone... depending on the situation.

On the one hand, you may have just harmed someone or damaged their property. I think it would be unethical to ignore the potential harm you may have just caused.

On the other hand, if you did harm another's person or property, it's in your best interest to NOT incriminate yourself.

The catch-22 is that if you call the police, and no real harm occurred, you may be charged for violating discharge ordinances, which could land you up to 1 year in jail. If you don't call the police, it's gonna look bad if you later have a jury trial for manslaughter, or some similar charge, which could get you a lot of hard time - especially if the prosecutor convinces the jury that your inaction made the difference between life and death.

I think the best advice is to take every precaution to NEVER have an accidental discharge.