I want to clarify my post above....
My statement "All guns are always loaded at all times" was not meant to imply that I keep all my guns always loaded.......I think most everybody knows what I meant.....that I treat all guns as if they are "hot".
I realized, as I reread through the posts, that some young visitors to this site might misinterpret my meaning.
For that reason alone I thought clarification couldn't hurt.
For the record, I have also had some boned-headed scary moments....
One morning, while leaving the truck for the morning deer hunt, I had a momentary lapse in memory, and wasn't sure which way my military gun's safety needed to be for on-safe ( I was 16 and on my 3rd deer-hunt but that is no excuse).....I proceeded to put it the position I thought was correct, then pointed it at the base of a stump and tried to pull the trigger ( to prove to myself the safety was correctly positioned). It went off!!! I was so embarrassed and my dad was pretty upset, but at least I had the presence of mind to have pointed it down and away. All I had to do was unload it and check it's funtion while UNLOADED. My youth and my inexperience ruined the morning calm that day.
Another time, when I returned home from a morning pheasant hunt with my brother, I uncased my double-barrel 20 gauge, broke it open and my heart sank when I saw I had left a live round in the right barrel.
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BE TOO CAREFUL.

Edited by - 8mm/06 on 02/01/2002 10:45:51