BULLHEAD CITY, Ariz. (UPI) -- An Arizona man who was surveying the bag of a recently purchased used set of golf clubs says he found a loaded pistol inside one of its pouches.

Mel Grewing and his wife, Cheryl, originally spotted the clubs in a thrift store in Sedona, the Mojave Valley Daily News reported. Though he already owned a set, Grewing purchased the clubs and brought them to the couple's seasonal home in Bullhead City.

While searching the golf bag's pouches for extra balls, tees and other accessories, Grewing says he found a Browning Arms .22-calber match-shooting pistol. A loaded magazine was inserted and the safety was off, he said.

"If a child would have pulled that out and pulled the trigger, something (tragic) could have happened," Grewing told the Daily News.

The Grewings already own similar firearms and say they are recreational target shooters.

The couple took the pistol to the Bullhead City Police Department, which found through a search of federal databases that the weapon was not reported stolen and was not registered to an owner.

Grewing said he and his wife would keep the gun.

"If no owner is located or contact attempts have failed, the gun may be released to its finder," department spokeswoman Emily Fromelt told the Daily News.

In June of last year an employee of a Target in Myrtle Beach, S.C., found a loaded 9mm pistol that had reportedly been left in the store's toy aisle.

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