Guns and Kids do not mix

[cards]

RIALTO, Calif. (FOXnews) — Police say a 3-year-old Southern California boy is hospitalized in critical condition after shooting himself in the face with a handgun.

Rialto police Sgt. Richard Royce says the boy apparently shot himself with the .22 caliber gun while his 41-year-old grandmother was caring for him. Royce says the woman is the boy's legal guardian. Royce says investigators are trying to determine how the boy got hold of the gun but he said the shooting was an accident.

He says the bullet entered the boy's nasal cavity and the child underwent about an hour of surgery after he was taken to a hospital Police would not immediately say whether any arrests or criminal charges were planned. Rialto is a city of nearly 100,000 people in San Bernardino County.

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I'm sorry but I don't see this as a horrible accident. The Grandmother owned the gun and left it loaded and within reach of a child. Responsible owners keep them out of reach. That is what gun cases with locks are for. A 3 year old would see the gun as a toy only and may have to live with the physical damage for life. They can't comprehend the danger at that age. Kids even at 10 will forget gun safety. They are desensitized by video games and make think a game without realizing you dont recover from a gun injury by a flick of the mouse.

How many times does this have to happen to kids before Adults wise up and keep their gun and bullets out of reach of kids? When will they learn?

[alohasand]

School of life experience will teach the laid-back gun owners something. If the grandmother had lost her grandchild due to his curiousity (i.e. he died), then suddenly the gun ownership matter would have a different importance to her. But some gun owners don't care about what others think and don't think childproofing matters.

However, if the gun was legal via permit, there are likely conditions in which it can be handled if not locked away.

[deja vu]

(FOXnews ) Fox Charlotte reports that a gun went off inside the desk of a third grader in Charlotte, N.C. It is unclear how the gun went off, but luckily, the bullet missed all 20 students in the classroom and only hit a wall.

Parents rushed to the school not knowing the extent of the situation after they were told, “A serious incident occurred in a University Meadows classroom this afternoon.” The gun was a .22-caliber handgun "small enough to fit in the palm of your hand," said Sgt. David Schwob. Police are investigating the boy's father who came to the school in the afternoon. Schwob said investigators were interviewing the boy, his parents and other students in the class.

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Third grade would make the child 8/9 years old? Old enough to know better but it's so tempting for kids. Clearly the father gave no thought to gun safety when the gun is accessible to children. He's darn lucky no one was injured when it went off.

[Smitty]

I have to agree fully. I remember that I knew EXACTLY where my father's .22 cal semi-auto h/gun was, along with the short stocked .22 single shot rifle he had for me, to also his 12 gauge shotgun. He told me to not mention the above to anyone even if their parents had a gun or more. On two occasions some at the very early yrs of schooling wanted to talk about & show me their father's h/gun & that is when I took a quick hike to my home. So no one knew of my father's guns or any word about shooting either of the .22 & YES we often had duck for supper to where they did not find one bit of shot & (I had bitten down on it, accidently).

Bill C-68 in Canada has its good points, but the belief in it being the Utopia of NO ONE WOULD SHOOT A GUN ON THE STREETS was just that in being a dream that cost tax payers & gun owners a fortune & never changes year after year of where we, owners of guns have to fill out pages of red tape every year to every 5 yrs.

Not married so no thought of a child, but if so then those two rooms housing the safes for my long bbl to h/guns along with the reloading gear being in two ex-bedrooms that are even locked with dead lock bolts along with normal locks with latter being looked upon as a Safe Place for guns. Yet I had the one bedroom & a bench to vice to a small grinder as my place to service & clean my guns while the other bedroom is sort of like a "U" shape in benches to reloading gear & tools to work on them. For shooting & reloading is a hobby to me.

Which reminds me of a sort of funny one. This cleaning woman (VERY hard if ever to obtain was only 1/2 of a block away from me. Naturally the little girl of around 3 yrs old spent most of the time wandering around the house with her Mother's eyes on her. to the fasination of this STRANGE THING being a Hammond dual keyboard, with tabs to draw bars & base pedals.

All went well till she stepped down on the base key boards & SUDDENLY the organ made a frightening noise. I had to get her back to playing on the two key boards to some changes for tones & NO she did not step on the base keyboard pedals. I guess to that little girl that strange thing made noises she did not expect. I was also in the living room so when this error or surprise came up I quickly snatched her & showed her how I could use the foot pedals for the base & not be frightening even to her.

[deja vu]

(FOXnews)ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Anchorage police say a 3-year-old boy has died after finding a gun and accidentally shooting himself. Police spokeswoman Anita Shell says the father called 911 after 9 a.m. Friday. The father reported the child had taken a gun off a TV stand and shot himself. Shell says investigators were interviewing both the father, the only other person at home at the time of the shooting, and the mother.

Crime scene investigators were en route to the home in the 4800 block of Loretta Lane. The child was pronounced dead at the scene.No other information was immediately available.

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I'm sorry but the father should be charged with something even if it only deals with improper storage. Leaving a loaded gun on a TV stand is asking for disaster and it cost this boy his life.

How many more kids have to die before they start charging the parents because they don't take the necessary steps to keep the guns out of the kids hands? There are enough stories about kids dying yet parents still don't seem to get the message. It's all too common now and crying parents that are irresponsible gun owners don't faze me anymore, their actions caused the tragedy and until the law starts charging them this will continue to happen.

[deja vu]

LOS ANGELES, Calif.(Wpg.FreePress) - Los Angeles police say a 9-year-old boy playing with a loaded gun accidentally shot and killed his 2-year-old brother. Police said in a statement Saturday that officers and paramedics found the toddler with a bullet wound to the torso after they were called to the boys' home in the San Fernando Valley.

Police say the 2-year-old died at a hospital Friday night. The statement says homicide detectives interviewed family members and determined that the gun had gone off while the 9-year-old was playing with it. Police say no criminal charges are pending. The name of the 9-year-old was not released because he is a minor, and the name of the 2-year-old is being withheld while family members are properly notified.

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The 9 year old wont fully recover from this. This will haunt him for the rest of his life. Question is will the parents be able to raise him without blaming him for such a horrible tragedy. One arguement and things said in the heat of the moment that could affect any chance of a recovery. The one to blame is the adult that left a loaded unlocked gun lying around and that person should be charged. The child needs a lot of therapy just to retain some normalcy and find his way to grow into a productive adult. Otherwise he could easily dive into drugs/alchohol as he grows up.

[pretzels]

I'd be wanting to know what is going on in the home that allowed an adult to feel OK with leaving a loaded gun out where kids are. Someone is not feeling their parental responsibilities towards a safe home for minors.

[Smitty]

I was thinking of this one AGAIN especially as it was a teacher at a university where the small gun was stored & loaded. Correct me if I am wrong understanding.

Now a small gun that will fit in your hand is even more dangerous for someone NEW as that does sound like what Ruger made some yrs ago & called a derranger as of the black-powder days for gambers as a "belly gun" so larger caliber then just .22. In those days 45 Colt Special in a dual two shot derranger.

I feel that Ruger made a few in .22 rim fire. I was also looking in a 2007 catalogue by Ruger & that derranger is no longer listed. They probably dropped it for more sensible h/guns that will sell to sensible people.

The SAFETY carried out at our Gun Club is still the same if not better & at home my long bbl gus are with the bolts removed or if pump or lever action then a cable down the bbl & all are locked into one room to also be in locked safe. The h/guns I use regularly are in another double locked room, & in a safe with shelves on it for the h/guns to magazines & all with Trigger Locks on them.

When I go to the range they are in proper gun containes locked up in the safe form & only safety is taken off while action is open for others to see the breech is empty while my magazines do not carry live rounds. They sit special boxes & properly marked as to caliber, powder, bullet tip in weight to shape, to exactly what wt the powder is.

The reloading is done at my home & those two rooms are locked as are the gun safes to the safety carried out on the long bbl guns to h/guns. If I was married then the name of the wife & anyone else would be listed when I apply every year for a Permit for Access License. Still being a bacholor then no one else is in my hone.

My Father tought me about SAFETY in NEVER mention there was his 12 Gauge shotgun for ducks, the .22 cal h/gun, to my shortened single shot .22 cal rifle. Also if I was at someone's home & they mentioned they would show me the gun (s) their father had THAT is when I took a disappearing act to my home immediately.

I sneaked my way into the Army Cadets when at school at 12 yrs of age & not 13 as needed as I seeminly knew more about guns then the other cadets did & so was soon shooting with them.

[Smitty]

To your questions & a good one pretzels is that the parents have never knowen a thing about SAFETY. Even when the late Marchent was about to take of people that would CHALLENGE the Cdn Firearms Safety Course rather then taking it which lasted a week or so..

He actually turned away all the RCMP since EVEN they did not know the simplicity of safety when they showed them their side-arm only with the loaded revolver & the bbl pointed at him-----------something we at the Club shooting range would NEVER do for we understood SAFETY as we shoot close to each other or in competition with each other. SAFETY has always been a big thing to us, but NOT to the average hunter or f/arm to h/gun owner as they do NOT find out about SAFETY from us.

I know of many so called novice or experienced hunters in a truck or car, notice a deer or what-ever & would aim it right across the person driving or seated beside them. Obviously this is anything but safety & they carry it home with them & their thinking.

Unfortunately police officers to sherrifs are showing their young son or daughter how to shoot & so often by error they accidently shoot themselves in the leg or foot. So where is the SAFETY???

[deja vu]

INDIANAPOLIS(FOXnews) -- Police say a 4-year-old boy fatally shot his 3-year-old playmate. Lt. Jeff Duhamell told The Indianapolis Star that the boy picked up a loaded .45-caliber handgun that had been left on a kitchen table in Fiona C. Lee's house Thursday and pointed it at the girl's head before firing. Lee's daughter, Aunesti Lee Allen, died that day at Riley Hospital for Children.

Duhamell said Friday that the boy is the son of Lee's boyfriend. Police say they found cocaine and marijuana in Lee's home and arrested the 26-year-old woman on child neglect and drug charges. She was being held Friday in the Marion County Jail. Duhamell said Lee's two other children witnessed the shooting. They are being cared for by a relative.

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Drugs, guns and now a child is dead. Child neglect should only be the tip of the iceberg, they should face some kind of murder charges. The adults set up the scene and a baby paid with her life. If the gun belongs to the boys father he should be in jail as well.