They never were safe! There's a guy around here who collects old Martin and Gibson guitars. He has one from the 1950s...it shows signs of having been played hard over many long years, including a large caliber bullet hole that goes right through the front and back of the body, probably lined up about at heart level, assuming the man playing it was standing at the time....I don't imagine he was afterward.

Must've been a jealous husband or something. These things happen now and then.