[forYourChildrenVote4Bush]

I don’t know anything about rifles and shot guns, but that looks as though it is a shot gun and it is “open” and not locked....

Am i correct? An open shot gun cant fire?

[mnehring]

You are exactly correct, that is a shotgun and you carry it like that, open, precisely so it doesn’t fire. Carrying it, breach open, is the safe.

[allmendream]

The firing plate is against the stock, and there is no closed chamber enabling gun powder to expand into a gas and force the charge down the chamber.

So you are correct. An open shotgun cannot be fired.