A man's child found a loaded gun in the backseat of their rental car, while his two other children were also in the back seat.
It happened after Mike Burk's 11-year-old son Carter found the gun, and Carter said he's just glad he found it and not his little brother.
"It was out, it was a gun, and it was facing Mason," said Carter Burk.
Burk dialed 911 and drove to the Franklin police station and waited for officers to come out and expect the weapon.
Officers confiscated the weapon, but said it was not stolen, and no laws appeared to have been broken. Yet, Mike Burk said he will be doing his own thorough inspections from now on.
"We want some protection for our kids or anyone driving in a rented vehicle. To make sure there's the proper accountability, and check to ensure that not just trash is taken out of the vehicle but anything that's illegal as well," said Mike.
NewsChannel 5 reached out to the Hertz Rent-a-Car in Columbia, to learn more about their inspection process, but management declined to comment. Mike said his wife was not in the car, but she was just as concerned.
"It was a difficult phone call to my wife to let her know is that we were that close to having some type of horrible tragedy in our family," said Mike.
Franklin Police have begun searching for the person that left their loaded handgun in the backseat of the car.
