It would be different with a knife, as for one thing, it's much, much less likely that a person would die from a knife that accidentally fell on them than it would from a chambered, loaded gun. Therefore, the knife owner is not guilty, but the gun owner would be.
The one variable that would make the knife-owner culpable is, did the knife have a sheath? If it did, and it was not sheathed... unless the case was a display case (in which the intent is to show the blade and then you would obviously not have it sheathed), then maybe the knife-owner would be guilty. However, it comes down to the likelihood of an accidental knife-death. It's not likely. One would need to be extremely unluckly to have a knife fall on them out of a case and have it kill them, for it would need to strike them in a particular spot to actually kill them, and that kinda stuff happens very rarely by accident. Conversely, it is very easy to be killed by a weapon that is accidentally loaded. Therefore, while a gun owner leaving a weapon loaded is guilty of negligence, I cannot make myself say the same for a knife-owner, because honestly, I would never expect that someone would knock over a display and be stabbed directly in a fatal spot by accident, but I do know that leaving a weapon loaded and in a place where it can be knocked over is just asking for disaster. A knife could fall on you, strike your breastbone, likely cut you, but almost certainly not badly, and unless it fell point-first, it likely would give you nothing worse than a bruise. However, a loaded gun could just as easily blow off your foot as your head. It can hurt you badly if it's pointed even indirectly at you, for there is the chance of ricochet.
A different analogy would be leaving your car's parking brake off and it rolls and kills someone. Criminal negligence. But if you had a bike that fell over and struck a child, killing him? No. Because you expect that a loose car will kill someone, but people are rarely even hurt by stray bikes. It's a matter of degree, so I opine.
The one variable that would make the knife-owner culpable is, did the knife have a sheath? If it did, and it was not sheathed... unless the case was a display case (in which the intent is to show the blade and then you would obviously not have it sheathed), then maybe the knife-owner would be guilty. However, it comes down to the likelihood of an accidental knife-death. It's not likely. One would need to be extremely unluckly to have a knife fall on them out of a case and have it kill them, for it would need to strike them in a particular spot to actually kill them, and that kinda stuff happens very rarely by accident. Conversely, it is very easy to be killed by a weapon that is accidentally loaded. Therefore, while a gun owner leaving a weapon loaded is guilty of negligence, I cannot make myself say the same for a knife-owner, because honestly, I would never expect that someone would knock over a display and be stabbed directly in a fatal spot by accident, but I do know that leaving a weapon loaded and in a place where it can be knocked over is just asking for disaster. A knife could fall on you, strike your breastbone, likely cut you, but almost certainly not badly, and unless it fell point-first, it likely would give you nothing worse than a bruise. However, a loaded gun could just as easily blow off your foot as your head. It can hurt you badly if it's pointed even indirectly at you, for there is the chance of ricochet.
A different analogy would be leaving your car's parking brake off and it rolls and kills someone. Criminal negligence. But if you had a bike that fell over and struck a child, killing him? No. Because you expect that a loose car will kill someone, but people are rarely even hurt by stray bikes. It's a matter of degree, so I opine.
YOU CANNOT HIDE FOREVER
WE STAND AT THE DOOR
WE STAND AT THE DOOR