Yesterday, as I was getting ready to go somewhere, something happened to me for the very first time and I thought I'd share.
This story reminded me of it
The toilet at Centerville’s Carl’s Jr. restaurant never knew what hit it, but police say it was a slug from a 26-year-old Salt Lake City man’s .40-caliber handgun. As the man hitched up his pants, the pistol fell from the holster, hit the tile floor and fired — shattering the toilet and sending porcelain into the man’s arm.
See, I had placed my sidearm on the bed while I was putting on my belt. Due to the forces of gravity which conspire to keep me down, the holster and pistol slid off the bed towards the floor. Like a schmuck, I dove for it. That bothered me. I should have stood back and let it hit, but reflexes got the best of me. What I was left with was the butt of the slide hitting the ground and my face peering at the bottom of the holster where the muzzle was.
Now, it's a Glock. Glocks have a safety that prevent them from doing what this guy's pistol did, but it wasn't a very pleasant way to find out that it worked.
Now, when I remove my pistol, I take off the holster as well at the same time. This keeps nasty little things from inserting themselves into the trigger guard and making big gun go boom. In this case, the worst thing that could have happened is a shoe string would have flopped over, but that's not a reason to take chances.
Regardless of the number of safeties, regardless of how cautious you are, owning a firearm has risks that need to be considered and balanced out against the benefits. Personally, I find the risks quite negligible, but it still requires constant attention.
Don't know how to un-train myself so I don't dive for something that's dropping.