Safety Matters

How to Deal With a Found Gun

By Kathy Jackson

Probably the most tragic sentence in the English language is, "I didn't know it was loaded!" Said with a sigh, a shriek, or a wail, these are words that follow a mishap ... or a tragedy. These are words that no sane person ever wants to hear coming out of her own mouth.

Even if you are not a gun owner yourself, chances are that you know someone who owns guns. Maybe you're married to a "gun nut," or are dating one, and are just not sure if you want to know anything at all about his odd hobbies. Or maybe you're just exploring the entire idea of gun ownership to see if it is right for you. Whether or not you own guns yourself, you should know that because there are so many firearms owners out there, it is possible that at some time in your life you will stumble across an unfamiliar firearm when no other responsible adult is around to take care of it.

Maybe it will happen when you are cleaning out the attic of an old house, or moving into the closets of a new one. Maybe your roommate or boyfriend will leave a gun lying on the kitchen table where others could get it (I hope not!). If this ever happens to you, you should know what to do about it.

The first rule of firearms safety is, "All guns are always loaded." Never, ever assume that a found gun is unloaded -- no matter how old it is or how exotic it appears. Because you're going to assume the firearm is loaded, it follows that you'll need to treat it with all the respect you'd give it if you knew for sure it was ready to fire. You will keep it pointed in a safe direction, never allowing the muzzle end to point at anything or anyone you aren't willing to shoot. Of course, you'll also keep your finger off the trigger when you handle it.

But do you need to pick this firearm up at all? Maybe not. If you truly know nothing at all about firearms, it may be safest to leave the firearm just where it is for now. After all, presumably no one has disturbed it for several years, so another day or two will not make any realistic difference. You could simply leave the firearm right where it is until you figure out what you want to do about it.

For help figuring out what to do next -- whether to try unloading the firearm yourself, or to risk transporting it while loaded -- pick up the yellow pages and call a local shooting range or gun store, or a gunsmith, or an NRA-certified firearms instructor, or (if you believe the firearm might be a war relic) even a nearby military museum. Firearms people are generally very friendly in circumstances like this, and it should not be too difficult to locate someone who recognizes the type of firearm you're dealing with, and is willing to walk you through the steps to making it safe. You might even find someone willing to come over and unload the firearm for you, appraising it at the same time.

If the gun rightly belongs to you, through inheritance, it is a really good idea to get it professionally appraised -- by someone who will not be the one purchasing it -- before you decide how to dispose of it. It may be far more valuable than you realize. If you live in a high-control state, it may be legally difficult to handle unless you first know exactly what it is you're looking at. An appraisal can help you deal with either situation. If you do decide to get rid of the firearm, please remember that there are many museums out there which would be glad to take an older firearm and preserve it for people to study and learn from. An unwanted firearm does not have to be destroyed in order to be kept safely away from criminals.

What do you do?

First, don't panic. Guns do not "go off" by themselves. As long as no one is touching the gun, whether it is loaded or not is really nothing to worry about. It is just an object. It may be a scary object, but it is only an object. It cannot do anything dangerous on its own.¹

Now it is time to think about your options. If no one else is around, or likely to be around, you may want to simply leave the gun lying where it is. Leaving the gun alone is probably the best choice you can make, as long as no one else is around.

Simply leaving the gun alone is not a secure choice if there is no way to lock the room behind you when you leave so that criminals cannot get to the gun, and it's not a safe choice if there are people around who know even less about firearms than you do. And it is especially not safe if there are children around who may be fascinated by the sight of an unsecured firearm.

So it may be necessary to pick up the gun and put it somewhere else.

Where will you put it? That depends upon where you are and what the circumstances are. If you are in a private home, for instance, you may want to simply carry the firearm to the bathroom, place it carefully on the counter, and lock the bathroom door behind you as you leave the room. That will keep it relatively secure from children and the clueless until the owner returns to retrieve it (though he may not thank you for making it necessary to pick the lock on the bathroom door).

By the way, the "lock it in the bathroom" plan was the one my teenagers and I developed when they were old enough to begin babysitting for other people. Because there are so many different types of firearms out there, I did not want them trying to unload unfamiliar firearms if they or their young charges came across one. So we came up with this simple plan which would work with any firearm, and which would allow them to keep their young charges safe until the parents returned.

Of course, when you pick the gun up you must not assume the gun is unloaded.  If you have not done so already, please read the Four Universal Rules of Gun Safety. The very first of these rules states, "All guns are always loaded." This means that even if you are nearly certain that the gun is unloaded, practically positive that no ammunition lurks within it, and could swear there's no way that it could possibly be loaded ... you still give the gun all the careful, cautious respect you would give it if you knew for certain a bullet would come out if the trigger were pulled.

In carrying the gun, keep your finger far, far away from the trigger -- not just off the trigger itself, but outside of the trigger guard area. Remember that if you stumble, your hands will naturally clench and will close upon whatever you are holding, so keep your fingers in positions where they will not naturally close upon the trigger if you are startled.

Pay attention to where the end of the gun is pointed. Do not allow it to point at your own body or at any other human beings. Remember that bullets can go through walls, windows, floors, and ceilings. In a single-story house, the safest direction to point the gun while you are carrying it is down at the floor. Upstairs in a two-story house, pointing it at the ceiling may be safer. In apartments, either up or down is probably-sorta-kinda safer than at any walls.

When you set the gun down, set it down gently. Even if you are really, really glad to get it out of your hands, do not simply throw it down or drop it. It is safest to set it down with the muzzle end of the gun pointed away from you, taking care to keep your finger away from the trigger at all times.

If you are in a public place rather than in a private home, you do not want to handle the gun in any way. It may have been used in a crime, you don't want to panic passersby, and you probably don't have some place safe to lock it up where criminals, clueless, and children cannot get to it. Instead, consider quietly staying with the gun and discreetly using your cell phone to call for help.

Note: when you call the police to tell them about the gun, be aware that the officers who arrive on the scene may not have gotten most (or even any) of the information you told the dispatchers. Do not call for aid and then pick up the gun. You do not want to be holding it when officers arrive on scene. It's bad manners to scare police in that way, and when police officers are scared they sometimes react in scary ways.

Without a cell phone, things get a bit more complicated. You can always ask passersby to call the police for you, but be careful how you do this. It's probably a bad idea to simply announce, "I have a gun!" ... especially if you sound a bit panicky when you do so. If you ask someone else for help, try to keep your voice low and calm, and your story coherent, so that you do not inspire panic.

If you regularly spend time in the woods, you should be aware that a rifle by itself may indicate that  a nearby hunter has injured himself falling down a hill, or is otherwise in distress. Finding such a rifle means you should look around for the hunter and make sure all is well before continuing your own hike. If you cannot find the hunter, definitely call the police and let them know the situation.

Conclusion

A final thought: If you live with someone who owns firearms, you owe it to yourself to learn enough about those firearms to be able to safely unload them if you need to. Consider asking your partner to show you how to unload his or her firearms and make them safe, so that you can rest easy that if your partner ever accidentally leaves a firearm out, you will know what to do.

Knowledge is power.

Next Steps

• Is It Empty?
• Securing Firearms in the Home by Jim Wurster
• Aiming for Lower Lead Exposure

Previous Steps

• The Four Rules

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