Facebook Photo Chesterfield County Fire & EMS

While most gun owners would agree safely storing your firearm when not in use is part of being a responsible gun owner, there are readiness diehards in homes, hopefully without children, who insist on keeping guns in a drawer by their nightstand, under the sofa or even simply sitting on a coffee table should the Crips, Bloods or that Venezuelan gang wreaking havoc in Aurora, Colorado, should attempt a dynamic entry in their home while theyā€™re in the middle of watching Sunday Night Football.

But one Chesterfield, Virginia, resident decided to keep their ready-to-rock semi-auto handgun close to what was likely one of their favorite roomsā€”the kitchenā€”when they stored it in an ovenā€¦and then forgot it was there and turned the oven on.

Chesterfield County Fire and EMS posted the following on Facebook:

While this is an extreme example, these pictures show why you should never store anything in your oven.

Last night, our firefighters responded to a call for a fire at a home in Chesterfield. The homeowner reported the oven had exploded. When firefighters opened the oven to investigate, they found a handgun inside. It turns out, someone turned the oven on with the gun inside, the weapon heated up, and five rounds went off. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but the situation could have turned out much differently.

When you place any item in the oven it is easy to forget it is there, which can lead to a fire or something worse when you turn it on. You should also make sure to properly store your firearms. Keep them somewhere secure, like a gun safe.

The firearm partially melted into the grate and live rounds exploded in the gun when the oven the gun was stored in was turned on. Facebook Photo Chesterfield County Fire & EMS

Of course, the rounds likely exploded from overheating inside the gun, as the semi-auto wouldn’t have cycled and technically “fired” the rounds through the barrel, short of the one round potentially in the chamber. But the situation was still dangerous enough.

Vada Tuttle commented on the post that the homeowner mustā€™ve been looking to make ā€œbang bang shrimp.ā€ Well played Vada.

ā€œThankfully no one was hurt,ā€ WMBF noted in their coverage of the incident.

ā€œPlease do not store guns or anything else in your oven,ā€ Chesterfield Fire and EMS said in a social media post.

ā€œKeep them somewhere secure, like a gun safe,ā€ officials told the news channel.

47 COMMENTS

  1. “Of course, the rounds likely exploded from overheating inside the gun, as the semi-auto wouldnā€™t have cycled and technically ā€œfiredā€ the rounds through the barrel.”

    But they could have, depending on whether the round in the chamber went first. If a round in the chamber goes off, why wouldn’t the action cycle and load the next one?

  2. We had a guy who cleared off the Tupperware from his countertop , prior to painting , he stored it in the oven . Some days later he preheated the oven and got a nice oven fire . Pizza boxes are a nice way to fill your place with smoke too .

  3. High capacity ovensā€¦ assault auger bansā€¦ common sense baking controlā€¦ ā€œrange hot!ā€ā€¦ Was the oven a General Ordinance?ā€¦ ā€œOr a HighHot Point?ā€ā€¦ ok Iā€™ll stop.

  4. Someone doesn’t know much about interior ballistics.
    The deflagration rate of any modern propellant is proportional to a constant multiplied by the chamber pressure raised to pressure exponent. The pressure exponent in gun propellants is less than one while the pressure exponent for explosives is greater than one. This is why with enough duct tape and ingenuity, you can actually fire a .50 BMG cartridge from a 12 gauge shotgun.
    Experiments have been performed. Usually the pressure from the propellant gases will push the primer out of the base of the cartridge. Alternatively; the bullet will be rejected at low velocity. The biggest threat is the heat of combustion.

  5. Appears someone was heating a pizza stone and ka bang. The only thing dumber would be an insurance claim.

  6. Prayers go out to the untimely death of that Sig Sauer pistol. Burned alive in the oven, never stood a chance.

    • “Prayers go out to the untimely death of that Sig Sauer pistol.”

      Doesn’t Sig make a pistol with a replaceable meatl “fire control group” that’s serialized to drop into a new frame?

      If so, that gat can live again…

  7. The only thing I’ve ever stored in the oven was and occasionally is a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven.
    The long guns held in readiness are in the rack near the kitchen door. The pistols in use are either in holsters or in quick access lock boxes on the bedside table. Might be a pistol in my wife’s or daughter’s purses. Don’t know and am not willing to go into a woman’s purse.

  8. i have a well used hand written note, simply says ‘food in oven’ – leave on top of oven as necessary

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