No. Not "for any reason." Malfunction, parts wear, manufacturing defect, or defect in design (Nambu?) are examples which would not be user negligence.
I believe I understand your point of view, but here's mine.
The person in possession of the firearm is ultimately responsible for anything that happens, whether due to design flaw, malfunction, or unintended consequences of situations like dropping the weapon, catching the trigger on something while drawing, leaving it where others can pick it up, etc.
The proof of that is seen in legal ramifications, not to mention the moral responsibilities many (not all, I admit) would feel if their weapon discharged and someone was injured or killed whom they did not intend to injure or kill.
So someone owns a badly-designed weapon like the aforementioned Nambu. Are they negligent if it discharges while merely being looked at with an angry expression? I would argue they are, because as the gun owner, they should know exactly what the strengths and weaknesses of the weapon are; as unsafe as it is, it should never have a live round within 10 feet of it.
Parts wear? Again, gun owner is responsible for this.
As the concept was introduced to me:
The Rifleman's Creed
by Major General William H. Rupertus
This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.
Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will...
My rifle and I know that what counts in war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit...
My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will...
Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.
So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but peace!
Granted that the above is dated and out-of-fashion, but this is what was taught in Marine Boot Camp in the late 1970s. We were responsible for the condition of our weapons. We were responsible for everything that happened to the weapon while it was in our control. There absolutely was no such thing as an 'accidental' discharge; only authorized discharges and negligent discharges.
I do understand the concept you're espousing. I get it. But I do think that a very strict, no-fooling, approach to firearm safety and responsibility is important for a number of reasons.
Case in point - it's not that uncommon these days for a homeowner to catch some scumbag breaking into an outbuilding or a vehicle or to catch the bad guy as he's leaving the residence, and he chases the bad guy down the street, shooting at him.
If the gun owner understood on a basic, instinctive level that he and he alone (or she) was responsible for each and every one of those little highspeed murderballs of lead flying down the street at his or her neighbor's houses, he or she MIGHT think twice.
Never mind that the law doesn't typically permit deadly force when a bad guy is FLEEING in most places in the USA, just the moral implications of caring what happens when you pull the trigger should be part of the base level understanding of every gun owner, IMHO.
"I shot at the fleeing bad guy and I accidentally killed my neighbor's kid. I'm sorry, didn't mean to do it." Now tell me, accidental discharge or negligent?
"I dropped my gun and it's an old design SAA revolver that caused the round in the chamber to discharge, killing my neighbor. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do it." Accident or negligence?
"I was in Walmart and I bent over to look at a price tag and my legally-concealed handgun fell out of my trick tacticool uberholster, and as I grabbed for it, it discharged, killing an innocent shopper. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do it." Accident or negligence?
I was raised with the same ethic as Massad Ayoob. My dad taught me firearms safety when I got my first shotgun at age 10. He taught me things like the nomenclature of the gun, how to disassemble, clean, and reassemble it. He taught me that when you kill something or someone, they don't come back, they're gone forever. He taught me how to cross a fenceline safely, how to carry in a cornfield so that hunters in a row don't shoot each other, how to keep my finger out of the triggerwell, how to keep the muzzle elevated and pointed downrange.
When I shot my first rabbit and it screamed like a human baby being tortured and he made me take the knife and put it out of its misery, then clean and later eat it, I was made to understand what life and death mean when you choose to go about armed.
Yes, I was taught that all guns are loaded. I understood what you said - treat them as if they are always loaded, not that they are all literally loaded. Even as a 10-year-old, I understood this.
All guns are loaded. Got it. Makes sense. If it goes off and I didn't intend it to, that's on me. In this world of 'not-my-fault', what happens with my weapon is entirely my fault - good or bad.
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