When Kolton McKinney, 12, unfolded the seat in a Tillamook movie theater Wednesday morning and heard a "plink," he thought a part of the seat might have fallen out.

Then the boy heard friend Levi Crabtree say, "Dude, there's a gun."

A loaded Beretta 9mm semi-automatic handgun, that is. One bullet in the chamber. The safety off.

But authorities said the dangerous encounter turned out OK in no small part because the two boys did exactly as they should have. They stayed away from the gun and called for a teacher, who in turn called police to Tillamook's Coliseum Theatre.

"I went through a hunter's safety course, and I was expecting the worst, like the safety would be off or something," McKinney said. "I was kind of scared that it might have went off."

And it very well could have, said Tillamook Sheriff Andy Long.

"If they had picked that gun up and decided it was a play gun, with all those kids in the Coliseum, it could have been very tragic," Long said.

He commended the boys for using their wits.

"One of them said, 'Well, you always consider it loaded,'” Long said. "And that’s really, really smart."

The boys were among three busloads of seventh-graders who struck out on a field trip to see "The Hobbit" at the downtown Tillamook theater Wednesday. The field trip was a reward for passing all of their fall classes, said Tillamook schools superintendent Randy Schild.

After McKinney and his friend alerted the teacher, the students were evacuated while Long and his deputies and Tillamook city police searched the theater. Once they found there were no other threats, they let the students back in to enjoy the film.

"They left an officer there just to make people feel good," Schild said. "The kids did get their reward. But it could have been bad. In light of recent events, our sense of awareness is certainly heightened. Loaded handguns aren't supposed to be laying around."

On Wednesday evening, Gary Quackenbush, 61, turned up at the theater seeking his missing gun, "like it would be in the lost and found with lost eyeglasses and other things," said Long.

"He has a concealed handgun license," Long said. "That will be revoked tonight. The law says if you are a danger to yourself or the public, it can be revoked."

A man answering a phone number listed for Quackenbush laughed and told a reporter, "Get a life."

Authorities are holding onto the firearm until their investigation into the matter is complete.

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