Not only does carrying your gun mean you have a gun when you need one, but it also means your gun is always under your direct control.
A 3-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed himself with a gun he found in a car as a family made a stop early Wednesday at a gas station in Washington state.
Police Officer Naveed Benjamin says the man put his pistol under the seat and got out to pump gas while the boy’s mother went inside the gas station in Tacoma. They left her son and the man’s 4- or 5-year-old daughter in the car.
Benjamin says the boy climbed out of his child seat, found the gun and accidentally shot himself. He was declared dead at a hospital.
I have no idea if the kid has escaped his seat before, but assuming the best, this was his first (and saddly last) escape.
Still why chance it? CARRY your gun. Of course here’s also a good argument against gun free zones. There are places that MANDATE you disarm before entering. One could argue that he should have unloaded his gun. That is a ROYAL bitch to do in the cramped confines of a car and just BEGGING for a negligent discharge. Also I’m concerned that somebody might see me stowing my gun and think: “Well I wasn’t planning on stealing a car today, but man that’s mighty tempting!”
My heart goes out to the family, and my heart goes out to all the families that hopefully we can save from this!
Be safe out there!
There was another incident like this in Washington as well, the parent was anointed in this second case.
Yeah we talked about that story here too. That was a MUCH more blatant case given that at least in this case the parents only stepped out for a second (no excuse, but its a common mistake) and the kid was restrained in a car seat.
Of course in the other case the owner of the gun also owned a badge, so he’s OK for letting older kids play around in the van with a loaded gun.
Shameful.
There are places in Ohio where the freeway rest-stop-gas-station-plus-restaurant has signs prohibiting concealed carry. I don’t go through that part of Ohio often, but I noticed and remembered when I did.
Which seems tailor-made to enable catastrophes like this.
I don’t like the fact that I need it…but I keep a pistol-sized locked case under the driver-seat anyways. The box has a steel cable which loops around the seat frame, but has enough play to bring the box up onto my lap.
I’ve become capable at locking the pistol into the case while seated in the car. It’s not the safest thing in the world to do, but safer than attempting to unload it. And safer than leaving the pistol in the center-console, unlocked under the seat, or in the glove-compartment.