[DCBryan1]

"told guests his .45-caliber revolver was not loaded",

"The sheriff's office said alcohol was believed to have been involved."

Darwin nominee. Dumbass! A revolver is the easiest thing to check and see if its loaded:
Just open the cylinder, extract bullets, count bullets and hope they add up to the number of holes...of course you can just look for daylight down the empty holes...p)

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

I had to reread that part but I did read it right. He did say REVOLVER! WTF?

I am at a loss for the level of stupidity that this person has/had.

[going hot]

easier than that. You can see the bullet in the chamber of the cylinder when you are -ahem- pointing it at your face and looking at it. As you pull the trigger, the chamber with the bullet in it, clearly visible, moves closer to the firing position, behind the barral. And, if it is a .45, the bullet lookes real big from the front end.

Perhaps it was a semi, and the author doen't know firearms?

Still, stupid, very stupid, and terminal.