TexasCHLforum.com

mojo84 wrote:I'm a little surprised your dad didn't check the gun to ensure it was unloaded at some point from the time he purchased it and the time he left it out for you. I would think several checks would have been in order before you got your hands on it.

I would have to agree with you. Maybe that's part of the reason Dad was so mad (partly mad at himself).

I was reminiscing from another post about buying guns at Gibsons, etc. retail stores. It reminded me of a scary story from Christmas 1972. I was ten years old. We exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve, but Santa came Christmas morning. So that morning I ran into my grandparent's dining room to find the magical cache of Santa gifts. To my utter delight/amazement, there was a Remington Model 581 .22 LR rifle. I was fondling it while siblings and other relatives stood by. Naturally, part of my fondling including working the bolt action, whereupon I noticed a round going into the chamber. Whoops. I alerted Dad ("Um... Dad, this rifle is loaded."). We cleared the breech, then opened the tubular magazine to find at least a half dozen rounds in this baby. Dad was as mad as a dad-lawyer can get over a dangerous and potentially catastrophic act of negligence on somebody else's part. At this point, all the pretense of Santa's elves went out the window. It was quickly apparent that this rifle was bought at Oshman's Sporting Goods in Houston. I wasn't there for the Judgement Day, but I can only imagine what Dad told the Oshman's manager.

Anyway, the moral of the story is the same: treat every gun like it is loaded, even if it is new out of the box.