This bit of "wisdom" irritates me every time I see it.
I'm as careful with firearms as anyone I know, and FAR more careful than many I have encountered along the way. Yet my own experiences (multiple, as described above) tell me that "bit of wisdom" is TRUTH.
Firearms accidents are no more inevitable than school shootings. You're misapplying a generalization if you think everyone who ever handles a firearm will have an unintentional discharge.
However, if you are saying that by handling your firearms a lot, you are increasing the odds of an accident, then I agree. The more you do an activity, the more chances there are to screw something up, whether it's driving a lot of hours or handling guns a lot.
I gave you my full curriculum vitae of unintentional discharges. Are you telling me you are so completely certain that nothing like any of the things that happened to me could ever happen to you?
Show me the part of my post where I said this couldn't happen to me. You can't. This isn't about me.
Are you so certain that everybody who has ever handled a firearm regularly has had an accidental discharge? Show me the proof of that statement.
As I've said, I'm sure a great many gun owners have gone to their graves without having any mishap. Prove me wrong.
No, I was totally joking.
It CAN be avoided by simply not handling firearms at all. Other than that, if any given person handles enough firearms often enough for long enough periods of time, it is likely SOMETHING will eventually go wrong which produces an unintentional discharge.
So, now you've gone from "certain" to "likely." As I said above, I totally agree that the more time spent handling firearms, the greater the odds of an accident occurring. This is true of any activity.
There's not truth to the statement that it will happen to everybody eventually. It doesn't. People will die before they have a negligent discharge. It happens all the time. That's how probability works.
Increased chances are not certainties.