Lawmaker Gives Unsettling Explanation For How She Accidentally Fired Gun In Her Office

A Kentucky state lawmaker accidentally fired her handgun in her legislative office Tuesday.

State Representative Leslie Combs, a Democrat, was unloading her gun in her Capitol Annex office when it went off. Fellow state Rep. Jeff Greer was also in her office at the time, but no one was hurt in the incident.

"I'm a gun owner," Combs said Wednesday, according to the Courier-Journal. "It happens."

“I was purposely disarming it to put it up because I didn't like it and I didn’t want to use it any more," she continued. "I had had it in my purse I carry usually, and I thought I'm going to put that sucker away."

As the Lexington Herald-Leader reports, Combs has a concealed carry license, which she says she obtained several years ago "as I travel widely and sometimes at night."

Combs said she will continue to carry her handgun.

"I strongly support our Second Amendment rights and our state's concealed-carry law, and believe just as strongly that gun safety and education must be part of that equation," she said.

According to a statement from Combs' office, Kentucky police investigated the incident and determined that no portion of the round fired went anywhere outside her office.