Throwing guns away is more common than most people think. I've run across several cases of a widow just tossing her late husband's guns in the garbage simply because she didn't know what else to do with them. She just knew she did not want them in the house. One particularly sad situation I personally know of involved the disposal of 5 Civil War-era revolvers that way.

On that note, I think it's a good point to make to document what you have with a rough value of each gun to give to your spouse so that something similar does not happen. Even though I have been married 45 years, my wife knows very little about, and has even less interest in, the numerous guns I have. I have tried to educate her to relatively little avail, but at least she knows about what they are worth, and won't throw them away.