Hunting Big Game

(Ventura California) Put this into the I-Didn't-Know-It-Was-Loaded file.

From AJC.com:

A teacher who kept a 40 mm shell on his desk as a paperweight blew off part of his hand when he apparently used the object to try to squash a bug, authorities say.

The 5-inch-long shell exploded Monday while Robert Colla was teaching 20 to 25 students at an adult education class.

Part of Colla's right hand was severed and he suffered severe burns and minor shrapnel wounds to his forearms and torso, fire Capt. Tom Weinell said.

What a dunce.

Colla reportedly found the shell years ago while hunting and it makes no sense for him to have assumed the shell was not live. However, it's somewhat more disturbing to discover that somebody is apparently in the woods hunting with a 40 mm cannon. It gives new meaning to "big game hunting."