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Girl, 5, Accidentally Shot, Killed at Own Birthday Party, Police Say

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528966,00.html

BERYL, Utah — Authorities say a 5-year-old girl was apparently accidentally shot and killed at her own birthday party in southern Utah.

Iron County Sheriff Mark Gower says the girl from Arizona was visiting her grandparents in Beryl this week to celebrate her sixth birthday.

On Monday night, the girl and another girl apparently found a rifle in a bedroom. The girl was shot in the torso and died at a hospital in Cedar City.

Gower says it's not clear yet whether the girl shot herself or the other girl was handling the gun.

The girl who died would have turned 6 on Tuesday.

The gun is registered to the victim's grandparents. The girl's name was not immediately released.



Doug

This is just tragic; the whole family has to be just heart broken.

Horrible, this family will be for ever crushed over this, if only...the rifle had been secured in a safe place.

My prayers go out to the families involved in this tragedy.

-geo

How horrible for all involved. We all need to gun-proof our kids.

HighVelocity wrote:How horrible for all involved. We all need to gun-proof our kids.

Truer words have never been spoken. Such a needless tragedy, that breaks my heart. Prayers to the girl and the girls family.

A little bit of training, even at age 5, would have avoided this situation. A child is, by nature, curious. If they find a strange object, they explore. So...make guns NOT STRANGE. SHOW THEM and tell them NO! Several times. I had guns in my house since birth...and the training started as far back as I can remember. The guns were there and they were just not something we touched until we went out shooting. Very sad indeed.

Doug

I fully agree with teaching children about the dangers of guns as well as other dangerous things that cause far more problems. However, the owner and/or person in control of this firearm is directly responsible for the childs death. I do not believe they need to be further punished but I do believe we, as a society, need to stop using the word "accident". It is not an accident but the direct result of inaction by the owner or person in control of the firearm. They should be scolded publicly and made an example of. I do realize the emotional distress the owner should be going thru. However, if it were my inaction of not securing the weapon that caused the harm I would want others to know not to do what I had done. I would want others to know how bad I felt in knowing that I was directly responsible for the death of that child because I was either to lazy to secure it or to cheap to buy a proper locking case. I would also want them to know that I was an idiot for not unloading the gun at the very least.

It is time we shout loudly that this type of irresponsible behavior is WRONG and reflects on every gun owner in the nation. If we allow it to continue it will be used against us even though we are, or should be, beyond safe where our firearms and other dangerous items are concerned. If we hold ourselves to the highest standard we have no need for any law restricting our freedoms. We also don't give the anti-gun nuts any talking points.

shootthesheet wrote:I fully agree with teaching children about the dangers of guns as well as other dangerous things that cause far more problems. However, the owner and/or person in control of this firearm is directly responsible for the childs death. I do not believe they need to be further punished but I do believe we, as a society, need to stop using the word "accident". It is not an accident but the direct result of inaction by the owner or person in control of the firearm. They should be scolded publicly and made an example of. I do realize the emotional distress the owner should be going thru. However, if it were my inaction of not securing the weapon that caused the harm I would want others to know not to do what I had done. I would want others to know how bad I felt in knowing that I was directly responsible for the death of that child because I was either to lazy to secure it or to cheap to buy a proper locking case. I would also want them to know that I was an idiot for not unloading the gun at the very least.

It is time we shout loudly that this type of irresponsible behavior is WRONG and reflects on every gun owner in the nation. If we allow it to continue it will be used against us even though we are, or should be, beyond safe where our firearms and other dangerous items are concerned. If we hold ourselves to the highest standard we have no need for any law restricting our freedoms. We also don't give the anti-gun nuts any talking points.

100% with your post, ESPECIALLY the portion I underlined.