I don’t like the phrase “accidental discharge” in most instances. After all, they’re not accidents. They’re generally the result of someone screwing up, which means their negligent discharges, not accidents.

There are exceptions, but they’re not that common.

Then there are those who think that the police are the only ones who really can be trusted with guns, in part because of those negligent discharges, because they’re the only ones with the proper training.

That’s just freaking hilarious.

At least three Los Angeles Police Department officers inadvertently fired their weapons during just one week in late April, the police chief said on Tuesday, May 3.

Two shootings occurred when the officers were inside their apartments, each accidently firing the weapon and sending a round into the unit next door.

The third shooting was at LAPD’s Wilshire Division station on Venice Boulevard. The officer who fired it was handling a coworker’s gun.

“A round was fired in the detective’s squad room,” Chief Michel Moore told the Los Angeles Police Commission. “The round was discharged directly into the floor.”

No one was injured in any of the shootings.

The sudden flurry of unintended shootings drew Moore’s attention and caused concern for some on the commission.

Moore said Deputy Chief Michael Rimkunas of LAPD’s Professional Standards Bureau was conducting an investigation into all three incidents.

Now, understand that even though I don’t believe police walk on water nor are super-trained badasses incapable of screwing up with a firearm, I will acknowledge that this is an anomaly. While officers do have negligent discharges from time to time, the fact that there were three in a single department isn’t common.

It suggests there is a training issue within the LAPD.

However, that’s not necessarily the problem. The officers could have gotten the proper training and still managed to screw it up. A lot of mistakes aren’t the result of insufficient training, but people figuring they know better than their training.

Plus, the LAPD isn’t exactly a small department. At any given time, there are thousands of officers doing something that may potentially cause a negligent discharge. If you look at each occurrence as essentially being random from a statistical point of view, then it stands to reason that sooner or later, you’d see bunches. This might just be one of those bunches.

However, I can’t help but remember things like this when someone tries to tell me I don’t have enough training to carry a firearm with me every day. That may or may not be true, but I do have enough training to keep my snot-slinger away from the bang switch, which seems to put me ahead of at least three LAPD officers right about now.

If they’re not just trusted to carry a weapon, but paid to do so, and are unable to match my own level of training, then I should be free and clear to carry a weapon.

Luckily, I live in a constitutional carry state, so no one can tell me no anyway, which is such a beautiful thing.