Child dies due to GSW

[DONT TREAD ON ME]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,588390,00.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

LEBANON, Tenn. — A Middle Tennessee child who might have thought a loaded handgun was a video game controller has fatally shot herself.

WTVF-TV in Nashville quoted Wilson County Sheriff Terry Ashe, who said the 3-year-old girl picked up her stepfather's .380 caliber pistol and shot herself in the stomach Sunday night.

Ashe said the girl's mother was in the same room and the stepfather was asleep when it happened.

The mother told investigators her daughter could have thought the gun was a controller for a Nintendo Wii.

The stepfather told deputies he got out the gun because he heard a prowler, then left it on a living room end table.

The child died at a hospital. Her name wasn't immediately released

Another sad story of negligence

[joe817]

What a tragedy. That breaks my heart. I pray for the little girls soul, and that Tennessee has laws similar to Texas, and TN gives him the maximum penalty for leaving that gun laying around allowing access to that innocent child.

[03Lightningrocks]

What a horrible situation. That guy may get in trouble with the law but I bet it won't be anything compared to him having to live every day for the rest of his life knowing he is personally responsible for ending that little girls life.

[MojoTexas]

What a horrible situation. That guy may get in trouble with the law but I bet it won't be anything compared to him having to live every day for the rest of his life knowing he is personally responsible for ending that little girls life.

I agree totally. My heart goes out to the little girl's family, and to the stepfather that left the gun out. The stepfather was careless...yes, but he'll be paying emotionally for the rest of his life. It's a sobering reminder for those of us with little ones in the house to lock 'em up and keep them out of reach.

MojoTexas

[jmra]

No doubt that leaving the gun out was neglect on the part of the Step-father. But, IMHO, the greater neglect was not teaching the child about guns and what they do. My boys are older now but they learned at a very young age to tell the difference between a toy gun and a real gun and knew better than to ever touch a real gun unless Mom or Dad handed it to them. You never know when a child might come into contact with a weapon. Make sure they have the knowledge to know how to respond when they do.

[CompVest]

The mother was in the same room and wasn't aware of the gun or her daughter picking it up? Sounds a bit off to me.

[TDDude]

The mother was in the same room and wasn't aware of the gun or her daughter picking it up? Sounds a bit off to me.

Yea, that's actually what I first thought myself. If it was one of those DAO bug guns, then this story definately isn't over.

My 10 year old is a nationally ranked USAA swimmer (very strong for her age) and she's barely strong enough to pull through the double action trigger pull on any of my 9mm's. There's no way a 3 year old could.

Regardless, a supreme tragedy.

[MechAg94]

No doubt that leaving the gun out was neglect on the part of the Step-father. But, IMHO, the greater neglect was not teaching the child about guns and what they do. My boys are older now but they learned at a very young age to tell the difference between a toy gun and a real gun and knew better than to ever touch a real gun unless Mom or Dad handed it to them. You never know when a child might come into contact with a weapon. Make sure they have the knowledge to know how to respond when they do.

3 years is a bit young to depend solely on training/teaching. That said, I do agree that the effort is needed. There will be times when you screw up.

I guess you could use only guns with 15 lb trigger pulls.

[jmra]

No doubt that leaving the gun out was neglect on the part of the Step-father. But, IMHO, the greater neglect was not teaching the child about guns and what they do. My boys are older now but they learned at a very young age to tell the difference between a toy gun and a real gun and knew better than to ever touch a real gun unless Mom or Dad handed it to them. You never know when a child might come into contact with a weapon. Make sure they have the knowledge to know how to respond when they do.

3 years is a bit young to depend solely on training/teaching. That said, I do agree that the effort is needed. There will be times when you screw up.

I guess you could use only guns with 15 lb trigger pulls.

Didn't mean to say that teaching gun safety to a 3 yr old meant you could leave guns laying around. The article stated that it was believed the girl thought the gun was a game remote. She was obviously never introduced to a real gun otherwise she would not have confused the two.

I can promise you that at 3 yrs old my boys knew what they were/were not allowed to play with. That being said, my guns were/are always secured. It was not my guns I was worried about. I can recall at least one incident were a young child found a gun inside the fence of a daycare. Evidently it had been tossed over a wood fence by someone who did not know or did not care that the other side of the fence was a day care. I did everything within my power to make sure my kids, from the time they could talk, knew what to do if they found a gun.

[Dragonfighter]

One thing (of the few) I applaud my son-in-law for is he (himself a rookie) is teaching the grand kids absolute respect for weapons with the Wii controllers (zapper), Air Softs etc. being quickly taken away and restricted should the kids ever point at one another, the cat, chickens...maybe even cockroaches. Okay, the last one was a joke.

[seniorshooteress]

must be a pretty strong little girl to pull the trigger on any handgun. Makes me kind of skeptical about the whole event. Unless the gun owner had tweeked the trigger so it had like a 1 lb pull. Also most game controllers are white; don't think there are any white guns, maybe some with pearl handles but the weight of a real firearm, unless it was a mouse gun, might be a bit much for a 3 yr old to handle. Hope the police do a bit more investigating on this one.

[03Lightningrocks]

Are you fellers implying that the parent shot the little girl???? Wow!!! It seems like the angle of fire and powder residue on fingers would uncover this before the sun set. It has been many years since my offspring were 3 years old but I am fairly certain they would have had enough strength to pull that trigger.

[Dragonfighter]

Are you fellers implying that the parent shot the little girl????

Ahem...Seniorshooteress?

[03Lightningrocks]

Are you fellers implying that the parent shot the little girl????

Ahem...Seniorshooteress?

I sure hope that is not the case. It wouldn't be the first time a mother went off the deep end and killed her own child. That would make this even worse than it already is.

[TDDude]

Are you fellers implying that the parent shot the little girl???? Wow!!! It seems like the angle of fire and powder residue on fingers would uncover this before the sun set. It has been many years since my offspring were 3 years old but I am fairly certain they would have had enough strength to pull that trigger.

That is exactly what I'm implying and I've had four 3-year olds. None of them could pull through a double action trigger until they were much, much older. I'm not a big .380 fan but all the one's I've looked at have DAO triggers.