In the gun community, the running joke of losing one’s guns in a boating accident is pretty much standard. Not everyone agrees with going there, but it’s funny enough.

However, we do know that a lot of bad guys like to dump their guns by dropping them in the nearest body of water. Lakes, rivers, pretty much anywhere there’s water on a permanent basis. It’s a good way to dispose of a firearm in a way where it’ll likely never be seen again.

Unless, of course, it is.

A report from kayakers about firearms found at the bottom of Kayaderosseras Creek in Saratoga Springs has led to the arrest of two Ballston Spa men, one on burglary and theft charges, police said.

The kayakers reported spotting the weapons Nov. 11 off Nelson Avenue Extension, police said. Saratoga Springs Police and the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team then found and recovered a total of three firearms from the creek.

Police soon connected the recovered firearms to a report Oct. 1 to the Ballston Spa Police Department about three firearms stolen from a South Street residence, a Smith and Wesson .40 caliber semi-automatic, a Blackhawk .22 caliber revolver and a Blackhawk .357 caliber revolver, police said.

A release did not indicate what police believe led the guns end up in the creek.

Whoops.

It looks like we might have to update the joke here.

More seriously, this is a rare occurrence. While guns are sometimes found in the water, it’s usually because the police have some reason to look for a firearm in that particular place. Without that, it’s virtually impossible to find a firearm that’s been dumped like that.

The police got downright lucky in this case. That’s good because gun thieves are particularly annoying for a variety of reasons. However, I’m surprised that the crooks didn’t opt to sell the weapons and decided to toss them in the creek instead. Usually, that’s what happens with stolen guns.

I’m sure investigators are asking that very same question. I doubt we’ll learn the answer, but my guess is that with these particular burglars, the one in charge wanted nothing to do with the gun trade, but the other boosted the firearms anyway. Once it was found out, the one in charge dumped the guns rather than risk being caught with them.

If that is the case, it probably wasn’t the brightest of moves.

There are, of course, a dozen different reasons I can think of why they’d dump the guns instead of selling them.

Still, I’m more interested in how the guns being found led to the arrest. The news report neglects to mention that. If there were fingerprints on the guns still, that’s one thing, but if not, there’s bound to be a fascinating tale on how investigators went from guns found on the bottom of a creek to making two arrests for burglary.

Either way, it’s unlikely we’ll see more details. This isn’t the kind of case where the trial will get a lot of publicity, so the details are going to be left to the imagination.

Still, it’s interesting that boaters found guns when usually we joke about boaters losing them.