This latest incident brings to mind when a Houston area teacher was shot and killed when his dog stepped on his loaded shotgun while it was laying in the bed of his truck.

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Strange, I have 3 loaded firearms in my vehicle all the time and I've never had an issue. Maybe it's because I don't let a dog step all over them.

Always a loaded pistol in my vehicle and one on my person. Never an incident.

An unloaded gun is just a club.

I agree that any non-defensive weapons should not be loaded and some states have laws to that effect, but last time I checked all my shotguns (and other firearms all have Safeties..

There is more to this negligent tragedy than is being told.

I carried a loaded pistol for a living for 25+ years. I always had a loaded shotgun and rifle in the vehicle too. The only time they discharged was when I intended for them to. Blaming the firearm and the vehicle is just ignorance and lack of experience.

This...exactly this.

So I take it some of you keep loaded rifles and shotguns in and around your vehicles while parked in your deer camp.

I keep a loaded handgun in all my vehicles because that is a place where I might need it. However, being human and for reasons of safety, I see no need to handle a loaded firearm in any place where it won't be needed. It's why I wait until I'm in my deer stand before I chamber a round, and make it a point to empty the chamber before I get up to leave.

After investigating hundreds of unintentional firearm discharges, 90+% were done while the person was loading or unloading the firearm. Thinking you’re somehow being safer by monkeying around putting in or out of battery is just more inexperience.

Another incident that comes to mind involved a bird hunter who was shot and killed while removing his shotgun from his vehicle at a local gun range. If I remember correctly, the gun went off as he was removing it from its case while at his truck. It points to why it’s common for gun ranges to only carry un-cased firearms with bolts open outside of open range times. The shotgun had reportedly been left loaded since the last hunting season that had ended months earlier.

Of course a far more recent and tragic accident involved an East Texas man who accidentally shot and killed his young daughter while reportedly checking his lever action rifle at his truck. It’s no doubt the fear of having to live with such a thing that far outweighs my desire to handle a loaded firearm anywhere it won't be needed.

THIS

I never chamber a round until I'm ready to shoot.

I think some of yall are jumping on Dan a little much on this one. Hes trying to remind people to be safe. I dont believe in keeping a loaded rifle in deer camp. Im sure someone will mention a tent in bear country.......

Hilarious and true. I have a hammerless 38 in my truck but you gotta pull it to use it. All my other semi auto pistols are not chambered and when traveling there is never a chambered round in my deer rifles. Bullets are in there but not chambered.

Zero muzzle discipline and zero trigger discipline in both stories.

It was not the gun's fault in either scenario, it was human negligence.

Funny how the OP poised the problem as being loaded guns in vehicles. Given the vehicle didn't discharge the gun, I am missing the connection as to why they are bad together.

We see 1-3 stories a year where dogs cause discharges and people are hurt or killed, and not all involving vehicles.

e.g., https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...he-foot-in-indiana-idINKCN0SK2I620151026

It would seem that giving pets access to loaded weapons is much more of an issue.

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It would seem leaving loaded long guns lying on the ground or flat on a seat is the common theme - which goes back to ignorance/idiocracy on behalf of the person who left them that way.

I've been carrying loaded weapons daily for 60 years.
Never had an AD but I won't ever own another Glock or any other weapon with a safety trigger.

While this may be correct, I thought most hunting related deaths occurred when getting in or out of a tree stand.

If you live by the idea that ALL guns are LOADED until SAFELY proven otherwise, many of these incidents will not happen.

When I first read an article about this my first thought was 'what was he hunting with a rifle that he would have a dog along?'

And then the last paragraph goes off on an anti gun message.

The TPWD publishes it's Hunting Accident Report every year and it offers a summary of the reasons behind accidents for the previous year.

Significant factors in 2021
• RECORD LOW YEAR!
• SWINGING ON GAME OUT OF SAFE ZONE led the list of
incidents with 9 (75%), #1 ‘Hunter Judgement’ cause
• Hunting incidents with night vision scopes is a relatively
new SAFETY issue given the visibility and ocular focus
factors combined with swinging rifle towards and firing at
running targets.
• SHOTGUNS were used in 8 (67%) of the incidents.
• Six (6) HUNTER EDUCATION graduates were involved in
hunting incidents, two (2) who took online-only courses.
• NO LAW VIOLATIONS recorded, a first!
• There were four TYPE B incidents (non-firearm, hunting-
related) including falls from elevated stands, the number
one hunting incident in North America.
• There was one TYPE C (non-hunting, firearm-related)
incidents.)

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X3

"Why doctor, I didn't shoot myself. It was my dog that did it."