In just seconds, a boy, a gun, a death, then grief

[TroglodyteScholar]

19. Possession of an Unregistered Firearm (26 U.S.C. § 5861)

I'm pretty sure it had no serial, but it's a federal offense for the handgun not to have been registered, too. So she was criminal in owning it either way. But she faced no penalty. I can't understand that for the life of me.

The confines of an unlocked glove compartment, even if the car was locked, is far from secure storage. Vehicle break-ins were pretty common where we lived at the time, too, so to leave a handgun there is criminally negligent in my view.

Your home is a different matter. If you keep your handgun in a lockbox in your home, you've at least gone to some reasonable effort to secure the weapon.

I do apologize for my dismissive tone in my first reply to you. I get agitated because a lot of people (not you, to be clear) are more than willing to declare a gun owner "responsible" in the face of numerous facts to the contrary.