SEATTLE - A group of 10-year-old students on a field trip made a dangerous discovery on a Seattle beach - a fully loaded handgun.

Two boys found the 9mm Glock pistol in the sand at Seattle's Carkeek Park - and picked it up to investigate.

Hours after the boys' discovery, shocked parents were relieved that none of the kids was hurt. And the kids themselves have quite a story to tell.

The two fourth-grade boys who found the gun told KOMO News that they were on their last field trip of the year with North Beach Elementary School when they walked down some stairs to the beach.

That's when they found the loaded gun, along the shoreline.

"I was just walking along the beach, and I saw a gun," says Vidal Glassman, who was the first to spot the weapon.

He picked it up out of curiosity.

"I picked it up, thinking it was a toy gun," he says. "No, it was really heavy so I put it down."

Then he then called his friend Josh, who walked on over to have a look. Josh pulled out the magazine, and that's when they discovered the gun was fully loaded.

"It was pretty scary," Josh said.

The kids took the gun to a teacher, and parents called the police.

"They're really curious, and they don't have the sensibilities," said parent Darcie Kline. "Luckily, those kids were really responsible - other than if they had not picked it up, it would have been better."

Police ran the gun's serial number and found that the gun is not stolen. But they couldn't link it to an owner.

Now investigators are checking to see if the gun was used in any crimes.