If leaving weapons about is necessary (which I do not for a moment admit), then most assuredly they should be rendered harmless by being left unloaded, and thus the means of rendering them destructive would be kept out of the way of meddlers. All ammunition should, as a rule, be kept in some secret and safe place, and always under lock and key. Every man knows that edged tools are dangerous, consequently that the leaving loaded firearms within the reach of anybody who may chance to come across them is simply leaving means of destruction unprotected, and he should bear in mind that this mischief of his own neglect might accidentally at any moment be wielded against himself.
'How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds, Makes deeds ill done. SHAKESPEARE: _King John._
The responsibility of those possessing firearms is great, and proper precautions and proper care cannot be too strictly enforced. Care costs nothing, and may be the means of preventing loss of life and many a deplorable accident. The precautions necessary to be borne in mind in the safe use of firearms for one's own protection, as well as the protection of others, are voluminous, and so varied are they that it is with difficulty they can be all dealt with in this little treatise; it is only therefore proposed to mention some of them, and detail a few important hints for the guidance of the unwary. Generally speaking, if a man will not exercise a little gumption, care, and discretion, when in the society of a shooting-party similarly armed as he is himself, he must put up with the consequences. Accidents in properly regulated families should never happen. Since the introduction of the breech-loader there is no excuse for any man carrying a loaded weapon and swinging the muzzle of it about when carrying it on his shoulder (which is often done), bringing every one in his rear in the line of fire of the piece. A man can load his piece now when he arrives upon the ground in a moment; and should a bird rise, with the present facilities given by the breech-loader, there is ample time to load and bring the bird down without the slightest difficulty. For any man therefore, when not in the field, to strut about with a loaded weapon in his possession now-a-days is simply bombastic tomfoolery.