A little back ground.
I grew up around guns. Dad had a 22 Lr he stored in the basement ( this was Canada ). I served in the Canadian Reserves as a RECCE Scout and later as an Infantryman in the U.S. Army. I have never had a ND, never ever!!!. Until one fateful night around 12 am.
So there I was knee deep in... oops wrong war story.
So there I was in front on my computer watching some instructional videos. I was trying to fix my grip stance so I was checking out youtube.
One Video in particular struck a chord with me. So I decided to grab my pistol and test it out. Basically I was trying to see where my front sight was after pulling the trigger. Now, I had just finished cleaning my pistol before this and reloaded the magazine. I did not have a round in the chamber, my weapon is stored amber in my house. So in the the course of testing this new "technique" out I racked the slide an pointed it at my 650.00 HD Display and squeezed the trigger.
well... to say i was surprised was an understatement. the display went out. I could still hear the guy on the video talking and there in front of me was a bullet hole. Oh did I mention the ringing in my ears, the smell of cordite? Totally confused I lay my weapon down after clearing it and looking for the ejected brass. It had not occurred to me at that point that I might have shot clear through the thing and across the street. So gingerly I tilted the the display back... no exit. I went outside and checked the window behind it, just incase, no exit through window.
I then went to the Bedroom to check on my Wife and Son, I let my Son sleep in my side of the bed that night because I was up late and well you get the idea. His room is right next to the computer room. My next thought was "crap!! how am I going to explain this to the Wife". So I woke her up and explained I had just had a ND. I guess I was beating myself up so much over this that my Wife didn't see the need to rub salt in the wound, she just told me to call it a night and go back to bed and we would deal with it in the morning.
The next morning over coffee and me standing there looking at my now dead 650.00 HD wide screen display, she told me to get dressed and go buy another one. I firmly believe my Wife was laughing at me the whole time. To this day she still reminds me of it.
"Hey babe I'm going to the range"
"yeah well just don't shoot any T.V.s"
"Haha... very funny" that sorta thing.
1. Never again will I be complacent and assume my weapon is cleared.
and
2. If it ever comes down to us vs them I am looting the local Best Buy and stealing enough of these displays
to cover the combat station wagon. I figure that they'll make a great up armor to my vehicle.