A (Thank God Not Gruesome) Reminder

Every Wednesday I can be found at the Martinez Gun Club, shooting trap and eating a meal with my dad and some friends.
This routine has become just that, until last night.
It becomes easy to get complacent when the same methodic steps are followed for a continual amount of time, however; when it comes to something as potentially dangerous as shooting, an eye opener can be quite startling.

I have a Remington 1187 12 gauge automatic shotgun. I step to the shooting position, muzzle pointed up, wait for my turn, put the shell in the auto chamber, push the release on on the chamber that loads the shell, point out to the trap house, yell "pull", aim and shoot. But something went wrong last night.
When I pushed the release on the chamber the gun went off. It auto fired 4 steps too early and while my gun was pointed straight up in the air. I thought I prematurely pulled the trigger which shocked and scared those that I was shooting with. This is a major mistake. I apologized profusely. We took a couple of deep breaths collectively and went back to business at hand. With shaky composure, I began my routine again. wait, load, push....BANG! It happened again.
"I'm done." I was too startled to continue.
Later thinking that it might be the shells I was using, I opened a fresh box. Went to the closest range with nobody at it, loaded, pushed...BANG!
Just thinking what could have happened if my muzzle wasn't pointed up, and remembering seeing people ignoring this shooters rule in the past, shook me to the core. I could have killed someone.
Turns out my firing pin is broken and the gun is unsafe until I get it fixed, but let this be a reminder to anybody that shoots anything. Anything that can go wrong will, so muzzles up everybody!