The shooting appeared to be "unintentional and self-inflicted," police said in a statement.
An 8-year-old boy has died after accidentally shooting himself with a loaded gun left in a car while his mother was inside an Utah convenience store, police said.
The boy was alone in the car about 7:40 p.m. Monday in Lehi — a city about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City — when he shot himself in the head, Jeanteil Livingston with the Lehi City Police Department confirmed to CBS News. The incident occurred in a vehicle located in the parking lot of a Maverick gas station, police said.
The boy was taken to a local hospital in extremely critical condition. He was later airlifted to a hospital up north and died Tuesday morning, police said.
Utah does not have any laws to penalize someone for failing to secure an unattended firearm and leaving it accessible to an unsupervised minor, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The state also does not require unattended firearms to be stored in a certain way or require a locking device to be sold with a firearm.
thanks to the "gun laws only hurt law abiding citizens!" crowd
Imagine being held responsible for what your firearms do if you don't secure them. We can't have that, I need my weapon to be always ready in case my kid wants to shoot themselves and die!
I can't imagine leaving a loaded weapon unsecured because: I'm not an idiot.
I have them secured where they belong in a locked gun safe with the ammo in a different location secured in its own safe. It's not hard.
Now, this mom gets to enjoy the horror of seeing her sons brains blown out in the back of her car played over and over and over in her mind. Stupid fuck.
I am going to guess that the loaded gun was in the car for "protection". You know, against the rampant carjacking epidemic currently crippling Lehi, Utah. /s
yep, good thing the gun was there to keep her safe, i bet her son really appreciates that.
God these news articles, and the insanity in the USA, makes me angry.
In a woodworking group im part of, people show off their home made, wood gun racks, which are scary enough, but once in a while someone posts a picture of a full gun room, with hundereds of long arms on the walls. Often people say "i bet this guy is scared of nothin"
This guy is fucking terrified. I always compare it to a fire extinguisher: You go to a friends house, and they have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, they are sane.
You go to a friends house, they have 6 fire extinguishers in every room, including the bathroom: they are terrified.
This is not a mental illness. That's the Fox News scapegoat, not an actual reason. This is just complete ignorance of gun danger in a country that celebrates giving out firearms like candy without any kind of training or licensing requirements. This is a dangerous lack of gun laws and an ignorant gun owner. Here in Canada, we have lots of guns but a far lower rate of accidents and murders. Pistols are restricted, which means the only places you're allowed to ever have a pistol is locked in your home, at the gun range, or at the gunsmith, or locked in truck on a direct route between those locations. You aren't allowed to keep ammo in the same container as the gun, never mind keeping one actually loaded. You know all of this because you had to take a safety course and pass a written and practical exam before you are allowed to own even a .22. The restricted license is yet another course and set of exams.
This is the fault of the laws of the land and the mother's ignorance. Don't bring mental illness into it, that's ablist bullshit.
EDIT: Because the 2A brigade has shown up and god forbid anyone advocates for more safety features, let me clarify that the Glock uses a single action trigger which I erroneously called a hair trigger out of a desire to simplify. Goocks also have some safety mechanisms to prevent it from accidental discharge when drop or when casually handling it. They do not, in my opinion, go far enough. Anyone reading this does not have to take my or anyone else in this thread at their word. Do your research. I did not do my due diligence on Glocks and ended up with two pistols I dislike with a passion. Lesson learned. Also, I am not saying that mechanical safeties should replace proper gun safety and trigger discipline.
I own a number of pistols including Glock and Para-Ordnance. Para-Ordnance is now defunct but I believe their pistols included safety features that should be a requirement for all pistols sold to the general public.
First, let's talk about Glock. A Glock 17 is a 9mm pistol. It is extremely light and relatively cheap. It also has zero safety features. This pistol has a hair trigger and no safety. The moment you chamber a round, this weapon is hot and itching for an excuse to fire. I bought a pair and I hate them with a passion. They remain unloaded at all times except when I am at the range and literally getting ready to shoot. I might have them destroyed; I hate them that much.
My Para-ordnance pistols (Tac-Four LDA is my favorite) on the other hand have a number of safety features that help prevent an accidental discharge.
LDA (light double action): This is a type of trigger system. When the trigger is not cocked, you can pull the trigger and it will do nothing. It also means that no round is likely in the chamber. When you chamber a round, the trigger will cock but it still is not ready to fire. This is the difference between "double action", "light double action", and a pistol like the Glock. Double action is what you find in revolvers where, if not cocked, the trigger pulls back the hammer before it releases. This can be a very long and heavy pull which is why you see users cock their gun in westerns. The problem with that is that a cocked revolver back to being on a hair trigger before firing, just like a Glock. The LDA system "half cocks" the hammer so that the heavy pull is done with, but you still have travel time where the hammer is pulled back further before release. It is very unlikely that a user will twitch pull the trigger by mistake.
Thumb safety: This is a fairly common feature on pistols (absent in the Glock) where you can flick the safety on and off with your thumb. An engage safety will not allow the pistol to fire.
Grip safety: A less common feature (absent in the Glock) where a safety is engaged by default until your hand fully around the grip.
The Para-Ordnance pistols featured all three safety mechanisms I listed above. The Glock have zero safety mechanisms. None. Zilch. Nada. Para-Ordnance went out of business and Glock are one of the most, if not the most, popular pistols sold in the US. Nobody wants to pay for the extra safety features. I think they should be mandatory.
If Kia can face a federal inquiry for not installing a “theft prevention device” than it’s amazing that gun manufactures aren’t raked over the coals for lack of safety devices and controls.
I mean I’m not surprised, gun rights matter more than kids right to life I suppose.
Not sure how much I buy this as anyone who can describe a stock Glock trigger as a “hair trigger” doesn’t understand what that term actually means nor do they have a basic understanding of gun safety.
Before ANY sort of mechanical safety is even considered - why the FUCK did this child have access to any firearm. A safety on a firearm was never designed to stop a user who is willfully trying to use the weapon nor is it a child safety device. To imply that’s how it should be used is irresponsible and I highly recommend editing your post to reflect this.
Do you also think we should ban garbage disposals because there isn’t a safety to stop my child from sticking their hand in it? What about a safety lock for the disposal switch? Will that save the child’s arm?
Not sure how much I buy this as anyone who can describe a stock Glock trigger as a “hair trigger” doesn’t understand what that term actually means nor do they have a basic understanding of gun safety.
Yeah, I stopped reading as soon as they said hair trigger with a Glock. Even after you rack the slide you still have a full trigger pull and it certainly isn't hair while still having a trigger safety lever.
These pieces of shit don't deserve to exist. They're an accident waiting to happen all in the name of making a cheap gun. Get yourself a Sig if you want an inexpensive pistol with at least a manual safety.
How is "safety against drops or accidental trigger pulls" better than "safety against drops or accidental trigger pulls" + "manual safety" + "full grip safety".
it does not have "zero safety features" and if you educated yourself you would know this. also why do you own one if you don't like it? that is a weird ass comment. either you bought a gun without informing yourself about it or you did inform yourself and bought it anyway. also you seem not to know what a hair trigger is. the fact that millions of private citizens, law enforcement and military seem not to have a problem with glocks points no the problem not being the guns.