An Indiana souvenir collector apparently didn’t think ahead to when he’d pass on, and his family would clean out his house and go through his belongings.
That’s what his son and grandchildren were doing when they found the grenade. It was the real thing, and somebody pulled the pin. That fool killed his son and wounded his grandchildren (read story here).
Maybe he forgot about it, or was afraid to turn it in. News reports don’t say whether he was a veteran; but to get a live grenade, he must’ve stolen it from the military, or bought it illegally on the black market. That’s pretty stupid.
There’s no easy way to get rid of a grenade, except by handing it over to authorities. Well yes, actually there is. You could take it to a secluded pond or river, pull the pin, and throw it in the water (see video here). The water will contain the explosion and shrapnel, and dampen the noise. It’s safe. I disposed of a grenade in Vietnam that way.
But don’t get me wrong; I’m not recommending throwing grenades into water bodies. I very strongly recommend not having the damn things in the first place. I know there are people who dig military weaponry and souvenirs, including (replica?) ordnance. Not me. I had my fill of all that in the war.
If you want to shoot military weapons, join the military. You’ll get free ammo and proper training. The downside is you might find yourself in a war; after all, that’s what they pay you for. For the record, I enlisted as a patriotic duty, not because war is fun (it’s not).
When the Army trains troops on hand grenades, instructors first have them practice with inert grenades, which make only a harmless “pop” if the trainee drops it.
Trainees then throw live grenades from a concrete bunker with a safety well, so the instructor can kick the grenade into the well if the trainee drops it. The bunker also protects the trainee and instructor from shrapnel from a short throw.
This training is illustrated in the video below recorded at the Yakima Firing Range in eastern Washington. I went through identical training in Army boot camp over 50 years ago; it hasn’t changed over the years.
Neither has the stupidity of some people. Many years ago, I read about a Vietnam veteran from St. Louis who brought home a grenade, kept it a couple years, then dumped it in a vacant lot where kids found it, played with it, and were killed. As I recall, he went to prison.
A Huffington Post article says (here),
“It is illegal under the National Firearms Act to possess a live grenade. The FBI has warned that these explosive devices … can remain intact for decades and then explode without notice.
“‘Usually what happens is when a veteran passes away, and family members are cleaning out their items, usually in a basement, garage or attic, they’ll come across something that they know or suspect is a military ordnance,’ Special Agent Patrick Carolan … with the FBI’s St. Louis Field Office, said in a news release last year. ‘They call their local police, and we work with the police department’s bomb squad.’
“The FBI’s St. Louis Field Office said it receives about a call per week regarding suspected military ordnance. The frequency of these calls has risen in recent years due to elderly veterans dying, it said.”
Probably many of those calls involve inert replicas. But the FBI wants you to be safe, not sorry, and call 911 anyway. The average person can’t necessarily tell the difference between live and replica ordnance. And, sadly, some people have been stupid enough to acquire the real thing and keep it with their stuff. If you’re one of them, do something about it now, while you can and before your relatives find it.