Girl, 3, Accidentally Shoots and Kills 2-Year-Old Brother

[festus]

Girl, 3, Accidentally Shoots and Kills 2-Year-Old Brother
Thursday, May 28, 2009
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Print ShareThisBAKERSFIELD, California — Police in central California say a 2-year-old boy has died after being accidentally shot by his 3-year-old sister.

Bakersfield police Sgt. Greg Terry says the girl apparently found a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun under her parents' bed Wednesday afternoon and accidentally shot her brother.

The wounded boy was taken to Kern Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead.

Police say the children's mother was in another area of the apartment at the time of the shooting. Their father was at work.

The investigation is continuing.

 

[Scarecrow]

and how does a 3 year old girl get a hold of a gun??? well when you have parents as stupid as that then I guess it's not that hard. hopefully the blame will go to the parents where it belongs and not to the gun... such a tragic thing could have easily been prevented.

 

[HK4U]

Very sad. The burden that the 3 year old will face as she grows older for what happened will be great. I feel sorry for the parents also but what a mistake to leave a gun that easy to get to when you have children of this age and to leave the children unattended long enough that this could happen. Of course the gun will be blamed buy some.

 

[svrivera]

If we could all carry in theis great nation, the gun would be on the fathers hip & not jammed under a bed. I feel bad for the child to have to live with this action...

 

[rheaj]

I am sure this will be used in NY when the Senate debates the bill to require that all handguns be "child proof."

Wait a minute, does California already have a law requiring "child proof" handguns?? If so, why didn't this law stop this horrible accident?

 

[gvaldeg1]

The only way a 3-year old could shoot a 45 auto is if it was left cocked and UNLOCKED (safety off) with a round in the chamber. This is called Condition Zero (Condition 1 is cocked an locked). This is by far the least safe condition for any autoloader. A simple 4 to 6 pound pull on the trigger will fire it. This must have been the case for this incident. In any event, it's clearly a case of gross negligence on the parents part. Whether it rises to level of criminal reckless endangerment is for the prosecutors and courts to decide. Unfortunately, I must agree that this reflects poorly on all gun owners. It's too bad that we all continually suffer from the actions of a few idiots.

 

[HK4U]

You are describing a single action auto however the article did not specify what type it was but only gave the cal.

 

[gvaldeg1]

You are describing a single action auto however the article did not specify what type it was but only gave the cal.

Actually...you should try reading before you comment! The article says "Bakersfield police Sgt. Greg Terry says the girl apparently found a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun". That's a little more information than just the caliber. Sheesh...some people will jump on anything. I'm sure that you got my point exactly. Your post is just nit-picking!

 

[WmFarnum]

To think the tragedy that could be avoided if if parents like this would only realize 60 bucks or so and you have a pistol safe beside the bed and this kind of disaster would never happen. And yes it will be used against us all.

 

[HK4U]

Actually...you should try reading before you comment! The article says "Bakersfield police Sgt. Greg Terry says the girl apparently found a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun". That's a little more information than just the caliber. Sheesh...some people will jump on anything. I'm sure that you got my point exactly. Your post is just nit-picking!

Perhaps you should read more carefully. I read that it was semi auto however what I was refering to was that the danger of condition zero compared to conditiion condition1 usually refers to a single action auto such as a 1911 rather than a double action or Dbl action only. As I said before the article did not address which it was. So yes I got your point and my point was that it is not dangerous to have one in the chamber and safety off if it is a dbl action and in fact on many dbl action autos there are no external safeties. If you can find something in the artilcle that I missed on that be sure and let me know. Have a nice day.

 

[gvaldeg1]

Perhaps you should read more carefully. I read that it was semi auto however what I was refering to was that the danger of condition zero compared to conditiion condition1 usually refers to a single action auto such as a 1911 rather than a double action or Dbl action only. As I said before the article did not address which it was. So yes I got your point and my point was that it is not dangerous to have one in the chamber and safety off if it is a dbl action and in fact on many dbl action autos there are no external safeties. If you can find something in the artilcle that I missed on that be sure and let me know. Have a nice day.

Thanks for confirming that you did NOT get my point! Most double action semiautos take about 12 to 14 pounds to pull the trigger. Probably too heavy for a three-year old. Try re-reading my post more CAREFULLY! Although I'm not sure that it will help. You are even misrepresenting your own post which said "the article did not specify what type it was but only gave the cal". You didn't refer to double action, condition 1, etc. Now...you're backpedaling like crazy because you got it wrong in the first place and won't admit it. And, you have a nice day too.

 

[HK4U]

Thanks for confirming that you did NOT get my point! Most double action semiautos take about 12 to 14 pounds to pull the trigger. Probably too heavy for a three-year old. Try re-reading my post more CAREFULLY! Although I'm not sure that it will help. You are even misrepresenting your own post which said "the article did not specify what type it was but only gave the cal". You didn't refer to double action, condition 1, etc. Now...you're backpedaling like crazy because you got it wrong in the first place and won't admit it. And, you have a nice day too.

The dbl action that I carry has about a 7 lb pull thank you very much.

 

[Ryan H]

Actually, the gun being double action does not help. My 4 year old brother a few years back managed to climb on top of an entertainment center (which nearly touched the ceiling) and fire my mother's SP101 into a dresser/wall.

If you think having the gun "up high, out of reach" helps, you are WRONG as well! My little brother disproved this. This entertainment stand stood nearly 9 feet tall. We don't even know why he climbed up there, that gun had been collecting dust. Nothing up there was ever touched.

Children will find a way to fire the gun. Pick one of two: "Safe" or "Easily accessible/ready to use".

I agree with what someone else posted in here- if the pistol would have been on daddy's hip there wouldn't be a problem! And if there was already a pistol there, this one should have been PUT AWAY SAFELY due to having curious, uneducated children in the house!!!

 

[TatankaGap]

The Parents Subject to Charges

In CA there is a law that you have to either lock your firearm or have it with you which means on you or under your control - just leaving an unlocked, loaded firearm off your person, outside your control when there are children in the house is a violation of the law. Then there are child endangerment issues.

I would be surprised if one or both parents don't go to jail over this. Foster care and psychologists for the girl. Very, very sad.

It is really important to start gun safety training at a very early age - 2 yrs old is not too young - how dangerous guns are, show them how it looks when you shoot your gun with flames coming out the front and how loud it is, and emphasize that kids are NEVER to touch a gun - leave the room and get an adult -

If the kid really is curious, make them ask and you can unload it and show it to them until they get bored and move on to something else - so, so important -

I'm sure there are other threads on this forum about this - terrible shame. And makes the whole lot of us gun owners more defensive from attacks by antis that guns kill, etc.

 

[HK4U]

What kind of DUMBASS takes a heart wrenching story about a dead toddler and turns it into an argument about who's right or wrong or what ever the hell you bitching about??? You are an ass...

The only thing that should be said of the situation is what a shame such a thing had to happen to a child and we hope the owner is held accountable!!!

HK4U try spending at least 30 second to think before you post ...I am embarrassed for you

Thanks so much Mr. Vegas for those kind words. Now as far as your observation I was not trying to turn anything into an argument. If you or any other poster felt I was then perhaps you/they are very quick to judge and therefore should also take 30 seconds to think. It was not my intention in the beginning post to start an argument. I was only trying to point out that the article itself did not make it clear as to what type of auto it was and that even though a 1911 might be more easy for a small child to pull the trigger one can not rule out the possability of that happening with any hand gun. For instance I have seen some weird stories of negligent discharges in some strange ways with a Glock.

 

[Glock Fan]

To think the tragedy that could be avoided if if parents like this would only realize 60 bucks or so and you have a pistol safe beside the bed and this kind of disaster would never happen. And yes it will be used against us all.

Could be even less expensive than that. Simply unload the gun and use the gun lock that the gun came with. Otherwise, I'm sure they could purchase a simple cable style gun lock for under $20.

Tragedies like this give fuel to the "anti-gun" groups. We as gun owners need to be responsible and practice safe gun handling procedures. There's NO EXCUSE for not safely handling and storing a firearm.



gf

 

[Mr. Vegas]

Thanks so much Mr. Vegas for those kind words. Now as far as your observation I was not trying to turn anything into an argument. If you or any other poster felt I was then perhaps you/they are very quick to judge and therefore should also take 30 seconds to think. It was not my intention in the beginning post to start an argument. I was only trying to point out that the article itself did not make it clear as to what type of auto it was and that even though a 1911 might be more easy for a small child to pull the trigger one can not rule out the possability of that happening with any hand gun. For instance I have seen some weird stories of negligent discharges in some strange ways with a Glock.

Don't know what caused the spurratic tantrum sorry HK. Maybey my blood sugar was low...or I'm just an A-hole :wacko::laugh:

 

[Piece Corps]

Let's remember here that if EXISTING LAWS had been observed, this tragic accident never would have happened. So before the anti-gun crowd goes ballistic about how we need more gun laws, let them explain how the existing ones need to be observed.

 

[S&WM&P40]

The sad fact of the matter is YET another Child is dead over something that did not have to happen in the first place. I don't care who you are when your at age you think guns are cool. What kid at that age does not use their hand as a gun and play cops and robbers. I know i did it just comes with that age range. People say teaching your kids at a young age about guns and that they are not toys works. With some kids that's true with others it's not it's really left up to the mom and dad weather or not they think they are old enough to learn. Kids at this age are not as dumb as people think and things like this can not be left to chance. LOCK IT UP!! That being said the first thing i did was buy two handgun safes and bolt them one on top of the other. One for the gun and holster and the other for the ammo. I like most parents let me kids hold and play with the house/car keys from time to time to get them to sit still in the shopping cart. Well i came home one day to find my 3 year old had taken the keys from the key rack and was playing with them in the house. I walked into the bed room and she was sitting by the safe's. She had found what keys went to the safes and was sticking them in and what do you know she got the top one that holds the ammo open.Now both safes had nothing in side them when she did this. Just goes to show you how smart they are. Now the bed room door stays closed and or locked and i may move the safes from under the night stand to some place more hidden away.

 

[HK4U]

Don't know what caused the spurratic tantrum sorry HK. Maybey my blood sugar was low...or I'm just an A-hole :wacko::laugh:

That's o.k. Mr. Vegas we all have our days and seeing as I have not yet arrived at perfection I sure can't hold anything against you.:biggrin: