Loaded Gun Dropped Off at Thrift Store

Old clothes, paperback novels... and a semi-automatic gun?

That's what a volunteer at , a local secondhand shop, found Tuesday as she sorted through bags of donations, according to police.

Deputies headed over to the Twin Peaks Plaza suite on El Toro Road at about 12:30 p.m. after the store manager called police about the weapon, which turned out to be an old, loaded pistol.

According to police, the .25 caliber handgun was discovered inside a case for binoculars.

The gun was initially slated to be stored with other lost property in storage at a local sheriff's substation, where it would have eventually been destroyed had the owner not been located.

However, a Laura's House representative said that the organization was able to track down the donor and return the gun later that day.

The same representative said the thrift store had never received any weapons as a donation—even accidentally—before Tuesday.

does not accept donations of guns, loaded or otherwise. However, the store is always accepting designer and brand-name clothing, jewelry, handbags, shoes, artwork, antiques and collectibles.

Store proceeds support Laura's House, an Orange County nonprofit that runs a domestic violence shelter.

Donation hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at 23635 El Toro Rd., Suite F, in Lake Forest.