What is negligent discharge?

On Behalf of | Jun 21, 2019 | Weapons Crimes |

Arkansas residents like you may be legally allowed to own or carry firearms. However, that doesn’t mean you’re exempt from wielding them with care. Today, John Wesley Hall will discuss what negligent discharge means, how it may differ from accidental discharge, and the repercussions therein.

Negligent discharge is any firing of a firearm done in a negligent fashion. It may or may not be unintentional, which is the primary way in which it differs from accidental discharge. With the latter, there was never any intent to fire the weapon at all, and it was simply fired due to freak accident.

However, accidental discharge can still be considered negligent depending on the factors involved. For example, an accidental shooting that occurred because a person forgot to put the safety on is negligent. Negligent discharge can involve shooting at something without realizing the firearm is loaded.

Even if you didn’t mean to harm anyone in the discharge of the weapon, you can still face serious charges for it. In fact, you may even face felony charges rather than a misdemeanor. The charges will become more severe if anyone suffered from bodily harm in the process.

Have you ended up in a situation in which you may be having negligent discharge charges set against you? If so, you can take a look at our webpage on weapons crimes, linked here. Not only do we take a look at that, but we also examine other areas of weapons crimes like unlawful possession of firearms.