3-year-old kills self with gun in car

[Hum]

TACOMA, WA ? A 3-year-old boy shot and killed himself with a gun he found in a car as a family made a stop early Wednesday at a gas station, police said.

It was the third recent shooting of a child in western Washington.

"It is incredible in light of the other ones," said Tacoma police Officer Naveed Benjamin. "You would think people would take more care, not less."

The family was traveling and had stopped for gas about 12:30 a.m. at the Tacoma station off Interstate 5. The man put his pistol under the seat and got out to pump gas while the boy's mother went inside the station, Benjamin said.

They left her son and her boyfriend's 4- or 5-year-old daughter in the car, Benjamin said.

The boy climbed out of his child seat, found the gun and shot himself. He was declared dead at a hospital.

The girl was not injured.

Detectives questioned the parents and have called the shooting a tragic accident, Benjamin said.

The family has not been named. They are not from Tacoma and their car has Oregon plates.

The shooting follows the death of the 7-year-old daughter of a Marysville police officer in Stanwood on Saturday when a sibling found a gun and fired while the parents were out of their car. And on Feb. 22, an 8-year-old girl was critically wounded in a Bremerton classroom when a gun fired from the backpack of a 9-year-old boy as he put it on a desk.

"It's another tragedy in a very short period of time," Benjamin said.

It highlights the need for people to secure guns, he said.

"You can't predict what children are going to do," he said. "You need to unload and lock it up if you're not carrying it."

"And keep it out of the hands of children," Benjamin said. "It's really not that hard to practice firearm safety."

source

[Midnight Mick]

WTF was a gun doing in the car in the first place?!

[nominak]

The man put his pistol under the seat and got out to pump gas while the boy's mother went inside the station

The boy climbed out of his child seat, found the gun and shot himself. He was declared dead at a hospital.

"You can't predict what children are going to do," he said. "You need to unload and lock it up if you're not carrying it."

"And keep it out of the hands of children," Benjamin said. "It's really not that hard to practice firearm safety."

source

Clearly the man who owned the gun is retarded and should be taken out back and shot.

Why was this child even able to get out of the child seat in the first place.

and for the last 2 lines I left in there... No **** sherlock effing holmes.

[LaserWraith]

This is sad...I believe in little gun control, but people need to be very cautious around them (and those who are negligent should face some sort of charges).

[Hum]

How dangerous is Washington state, that you need to keep a loaded gun in the car ???

And the parents must be brain dead to leave the gun loose, around kids. :s

[ybrett23]

shoot the parents for being responsible!

[spedanden]

Everyday I come to Neowin lately theres something similar to this in the "Recent Posts" area on the main page. I usually don't click to read them, just as I dont watch the news. I jsut wonder, do people really enjoy hearing about this stuff? It's depressing. It's bad enough to know that messed up **** happens everyday, let alone have to hear about the details.

[Hum]

^ The point is, that some people may learn from the story. ;)

[Vykranth]

Every time we get this kind of stories, the gun is always loaded and the safety is always off.

The paradox of the gun in the US society: society is violent so people buy guns to protect themselves and feel safe, yet they do not handle the guns safely and they put themselves, their family or others at risk ...

[nominak]

Every time we get this kind of stories, the gun is always loaded and the safety is always off.

The paradox of the gun in the US society: society is violent so people buy guns to protect themselves and feel safe, yet they do not handle the guns safely and they put themselves, their family or others at risk ...

But they don't need gun control. As can be seen clearly in this topic.

[DocM]

WTF was a gun doing in the car in the first place?!

Concealed carry licensees can carry in their vehicle, but if it's not on your person best practice is to stow it in a car gun safe. This is quite necessary if you're out and have to enter a gun-free exclusion zone (as defined in state law.) Some mount into the glove box, inside a console, or like mine between the front seats (similar to below pic.) Ours is a larger size because 2-4 people might be in the car that are carrying.

Obviously these idiots didn't have or use one.

[44MLX]

It's the parents fault, one should have stayed with the kids if there is a gun in the car. Or they should of put the gun somewhere much more safe where the kids cannot reach i.e the boot. However, you could not know that would of happened R.I.P :(.

[Memphis]

It's the parents fault, one should have stayed with the kids if there is a gun in the car. Or they should of put the gun somewhere much more safe where the kids cannot reach i.e the boot. However, you could not know that would of happened R.I.P :(.

My gun stays on my hip or in the glovebox unchambered. that this man with felony criminal negligance and give him the max sentence.

[DocM]

Sweet! I usually save my 1911 for non-urban open carry and the .500 Mag for woods carry (in case of bear & pigs.)

[L1520]

Fk thats awful, America needs to get a grip on gun law / gun education! Glad I live in the UK tbh

[DocM]

Fk thats awful, America needs to get a grip on gun law / gun education!

You can't educate out stupid or careless,. You can try, and the carry classes stress the point, but nothing is perfect and neither are people. Check the auto and accidental death reports and the Darwin Awards for examples.

[Seizure1990]

Fk thats awful, America needs to get a grip on gun law / gun education! Glad I live in the UK tbh

Have fun with your annual riots.

[ANON86364]

Every time we get this kind of stories, the gun is always loaded and the safety is always off.

The paradox of the gun in the US society: society is violent so people buy guns to protect themselves and feel safe, yet they do not handle the guns safely and they put themselves, their family or others at risk ...

You refer to "they" a few times implying the same people who you see defend their are the same people who don't handle them responsibly. While there may be a few idiots who do both, the vast majority are responsible.

Surely I don't need to refer to the cliche that good news is bad news?

[DocM]

Every time we get this kind of stories, the gun is always loaded and the safety is always off

An unloaded gun is kinda har to fire if you need it quick. The trick is to pull the magazine or, in a revolver, the shells if you leave it unsecured. But then the idea is NOT to leave it unsecured, hence gun safes even in cars.

As to safeties: you do realize that a large percentage of handguns have no safety? Those with double-action triggers, which both engage and tension the mechanism and fire the weapon, often don't have one. Common on revolvers and compact concealed carry auto pistols including my SIG P250 carry weapon.

[Azies]

The only way the US is going to get a grip of it's gun laws is through civil war. These right wingers won't give up their killing tools so easily.

[DocM]

Civil war; a massive continental conflict costing millions of lives and of necessity requiring weapons, as a means of disarming people who would otherwise hurt no one other than societal predators.

Yeah, that makes sense :p /s

[Azies]

Civil war; a massive continental conflict costing millions of lives and of necessity requiring weapons, as a means of disarming people who would otherwise hurt no one other than societal predators.

Yeah, that makes sense :p /s

The right has been preparing for war for a long time, you think they're going to cooperate with disarming? They're primitives who believe in God and Guns, and would kill before giving up their arms. The reaction would cause a civil conflict, it would TAKE a civil war to disarm these people.

[Seizure1990]

Yeah, that makes sense :p /s

Asking Azies' to make sense in a topic about guns? Don't hold your breath.

He just has fun making dumb comments from the peanut gallery without any substantiation or reasoning.

[Dot Matrix]

Trigger locks people. They work wonders.

[ANON86364]

The right has been preparing for war for a long time, you think they're going to cooperate with disarming? They're primitives who believe in God and Guns, and would kill before giving up their arms. The reaction would cause a civil conflict, it would TAKE a civil war to disarm these people.

:| :s :laugh:

^ In that order.