Guns are falling from seats now

[sunzt]

We are lucky that these boys were smart and old enough to know what to do. Imagine what would happen if it was someone else who wasn't old enough or law abiding enough was in that position.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/20/boys-make-the-right-move-with-loaded-gun-in-theater/?hpt=hp_t3

10:36 AM ET
Boys make the right move with loaded gun in theater

With the horrific news involving guns from Newtown, Connecticut, in the past week, here’s a story with a happy ending and one that illustrates how kids can be more responsible than adults when it comes to weapons.

On Wednesday morning in Tillamook, Oregon, a city of 5,000 near the Pacific Ocean, a group of seventh-grade students were on a field trip to the local Coliseum Theatre to watch "The Hobbit." The outing was a reward for getting good grades.

It turns out these kids were more than book-smart.

When Kolton McKinney pulled his seat down, something fell from it.

“He sat down in his chair and I heard a ‘clunk’ and I looked down and there it was,” Kolton’s classmate, Levi Crabtree, told CNN affiliate KGW in Portland.

The gun the boys found in the theater.

It was a gun, a small-caliber, semi-automatic pistol. It was fully loaded with a round in the chamber, Tillamook Police Chief Terry Wright said.

Levi and Kolton didn’t touch the weapon. They alerted a school staffer who was on the field trip, who then alerted police.

Why didn’t the boys pick up the firearm?

"I'm a Boy Scout and Kolton and me took a hunter safety class. One of the rules is that you treat all guns as if they're loaded," Levi told KPTV.

“Who would do that? Seriously, there’s a bunch of people that go to that theater and they put a gun in there,” Kolton told KGW.

Somebody who’s “careless” and “reckless,” Wright said.

Police told KPTV that a man went to the theater on Wednesday night asking if anyone had found his gun and turned it in to the lost and found. He’d lost it the night before in the theater.

The man, who has a Tillamook County concealed handgun license, never notified police he’d lost the weapon, KPTV reported.

Luckily, the two Tillamook Junior High School students were thinking more clearly.

"Our students reacted exactly like we would hope and that is they recognized that is was a gun, recognized that they needed to stay away and contact a teacher immediately," Tillamook school Superintendent Randy Schild told KPTV. "I hope this is a learning opportunity not only for our students, but any students that see it on TV or anywhere else."

Police did not identify the man who lost the gun but said the case was being referred to the county sheriff’s office, which could then forward it to the district attorney.

We forward our compliments to two smart seventh-graders.

 

[chucky2]

So a guy brought his gun on a night out, and was licensed to do so. Gun not properly secured (and/or shit happens), gun gets lost in theatre. Man tells theatre this, theatre and man don't sweep room he was in and instead just write it off.

Brilliance.

 

[jagec]

So a guy brought his gun on a night out, and was licensed to do so. Gun not properly secured (and/or shit happens), gun gets lost in theatre. Man tells theatre this the next day, theatre and man don't sweep room he was in and instead just write it off.

Brilliance.

Added even more brilliance.

If I carried a concealed weapon and I couldn't find it at the end of the night, you'd better believe that I wouldn't be going to bed until it was located. The last thing you want is the police knocking on your door asking why a weapon registered to you was used in a bank robbery that morning.

 

[chucky2]

You're exactly right. I'd be tearing that whole theatre apart and if I didn't find it, report it as lost - and possibly stolen - to the police that night.

Crazy.

 

[schneiderguy]

"I'm a Boy Scout and Kolton and me took a hunter safety class. One of the rules is that you treat all guns as if they're loaded," Levi told KPTV.

:thumbsup:

 

[sm625]

Back in a day when our culture wasnt so dumbed down to the bone and scared of anything not wearing the jack-boot of the state, people forgot their guns all the time. And they were usually returned with no hassle at all.

 

[BladeVenom]

At least it wasn't the Secret Service losing their guns on a plane again.

 

[emperus]

Yes, and people believe that more people armed in theaters would be a great thing.

 

[chucky2]

It would be. One case of someone not doing something smart doesn't mean everyone, or, more meaningful, a statistically significant amount of legal gun owners are going to misuse their firearms.

People in IL that have to go into sh1tty areas already carry, license or not. And if the cops happen upon you doing something legit, and catch you with your (likely) pistol, they probably aren't going to do anything more than slap you on the wrist, if that. They know the deal...

 

[BladeVenom]

Yes, and people believe that more people armed in theaters would be a great thing.

We've already seen what happens when no one in a theater is legally armed.

 

[werepossum]

Added even more brilliance.

If I carried a concealed weapon and I couldn't find it at the end of the night, you'd better believe that I wouldn't be going to bed until it was located. The last thing you want is the police knocking on your door asking why a weapon registered to you was used in a bank robbery that morning.

Exactly right.

 

[feralkid]

Back in a day when our culture wasnt so dumbed down to the bone and scared of anything not wearing the jack-boot of the state, people forgot their guns all the time. And they were usually returned with no hassle at all.

Oh, you just made that up.

 

[Olikan]

We've already seen what happens when no one in a theater is legally armed.

yeah....nothing exacly happens

holy cow, what's wrong with people that think they need a gun to go to the theater? paranoia much?

 

[shortylickens]

I pocket carry and if its gone more than a second I know immediately. How could he not feel that sudden loss of a solid metal object?

 

[shortylickens]

Unrelated note: Its a shitty photo but does anyone think thats a 1903?

 

[davmat787]

I pocket carry and if its gone more than a second I know immediately. How could he not feel that sudden loss of a solid metal object?

Maybe he was carrying IWB, and took it out, set it in the seat next to him while watching the movie? Just a guess, *shrug*.

 

[shortylickens]

Maybe he was carrying IWB, and took it out, set it in the seat next to him while watching the movie? Just a guess, *shrug*.

If its too uncomfortable to keep on you for a couple hours then you need a smaller gun or you need to get a gun vault for the car.

Either way this guy was not smart, and needs to lose his permit.

 

[davmat787]

If its too uncomfortable to keep on you for a couple hours then you need a smaller gun or you need to get a gun vault for the car.

Either way this guy was not smart, and needs to lose his permit.

The bolded is why I suggested what I did, that he removed it from his body. How could he forget it otherwise? But like I said, just guessing.

 

[tweaker2]

Or, his holster malfunctioned, as they sometimes do, especially if the holster was generic.

But still doesn't excuse his nonchalance toward the loss. That firearm is about the worst thing you could lose in public, liability-wise.

It's like fleeing the scene of an serious accident that he was directly involved in.

 

[blankslate]

The story you quoted isn't clear but did this guy have it in a holster or was he carrying it in some other fashion?

either way as some people have noted the man has demonstrated that he is not responsible enough to carry concealed in public.

He needs to lose his license. This could easily have been another tragedy.

 

[exdeath]

What a dumbass.