Within the firearms community the term "negligent discharge" is typically used instead of "accidental discharge."
I'd post the 4 rules of firearms safety again, but they're easy to find, I've posted them on Jazzfanz at least a half-dozen times, and they have been included in the instruction manual of every firearm I've ever purchased. Anyway, negligent/accidental discharge can only happen if you violate the 4 basic rules of firearm safety. Also, for anyone to be injured due to mishandling a firearm 2 or more of the 4 rules need to be violated.
IMO, any violation of the 4 basic rules should be considered when an incident involving a firearm is being investigated or prosecuted. I believe that firearms owners should be legally required to follow the 4 basic rules at all times. That any "accident" that happens when those rules are not followed is at the very least considered an act of negligence, but should often be used to show a wilful disregard for the safe handling of a firearm, a disregard for the safety of others, and a disregard for the law.
If the 4 rules are followed it is virtually impossible to accidentally cause injury to yourself or anyone else, and like I said, 2 or more of the rules have to be violated in order for discharge to result in injury.
I know you consider those CA regulations pretty reasonable, but I think the point is that they have no meaningful impact on the use of firearms to commit a crime. They are quite burdensome and it seems like they are burdensome for the sake of being burdensome and nothing else.
One of the rules there is pretty ridiculous.
Let's say I want to sell a firearm I own to a good friend of mine. Here in Utah my friend gives me the money, I give him the gun and that's it. In CA my friend and I have to drive to a gun store. We have to pay the gun store a fee for facilitating this transaction, the gun store then has to hold the firearm for 10 days at which point my friend can go back and pick it up. If I want to let my friend borrow my gun I can do that, no paperwork, no wait. The 10 day waiting period is for nothing other than waiting. Nothing is happening during that time. So, if you were a female being threatened by an ex-boyfriend or something, and you felt that you needed a gun for protection you would have to wait for 10 days until you could posses a gun for your protection.