Bullet From Father's Gun Hits Daughter

[dihappy]

Be careful friends.

By Valentino Lucio - Express-News
An infant girl was in critical condition Friday evening after a bullet accidentally fired from her father's gun struck her in the head at their home in Bandera County, officials said.

The child, 2, was airlifted to University Hospital in San Antonio with a single gunshot wound to the head, said Bandera County Sheriff's Office chief deputy Richard Smith. The bullet from the 9 mm pistol entered the back of the child's head and exited her temple, and Smith said she had a “good chance of recovering.”

The girl's mother called 911 to report the shooting around 1 p.m. at their mobile home in Bandera, Smith said. When officers arrived they were told the girl's father, 47, was cleaning his gun in the living room when it discharged one round, which went through a kitchen cabinet and struck his daughter. Smith said the father claimed he thought the gun was empty.

Although the incident seemed accidental, Smith said, the father could face various charges, including criminal negligence.

[MadMonkey]

How does that saying go... there are no unsafe guns, only unsafe owners...

Hope the kid is okay.

How do you discharge a round while cleaning?? The first thing I do is clean the bore. Maybe I'm doing it backwards.

[StewNTexas]

We all pray for this little girl and her family.

Each and every firearm in my house is fully loaded. I am very scared of unloaded guns. From all news stories, it is the unloaded guns, or the ones pretending to be unloaded that do harm.

If I remove a pistol from the safe, I know it is loaded. If I open a rifle case, I know it is loaded. If (God forbid) I have to pull one from my holster in a bad situation, I know it is loaded.

Unloaded guns scare the hell out of me.

Just saying.....

[Keith B]

Hope the little girl has a full recovery. Hard thing to deal with for the family, but just pure negligence on the Dad's part.

A lot of these types of 'cleaning' incidents happen due to people removing the magazine on an semi-auto Glock or similar type weapon and then think the chamber is empty. I have seen this before because they normally leave the chamber empty and think that once they drop the mag it is ready, but in reality have at sometime chambered a round. They go to remove the slide, and since you are required to pull the trigger before the slide will release, the pull it, failing to point it in a safe direction, and the gun fires.

Just remember that even if you are one of those that leave your gun with a round missing from the chamber, that it is STILL loaded and must always rack the slide to make sure you or someone else hasn't racked the slide and chambered a round without realizing it.

[bdickens]

Or, these types of "cleaning accidents" happen when some brain-dead idiot is playing with a gun and claims he was "cleaning" it when it "just went off."

[hheremtp]

This is why all of my guns stay loaded, unloaded guns scare me, you never here someone say, "I thought there was a round in the chamber, but I pulled the trigger anyway just to check." It's always "I thought the gun was unloaded." This is what happens when you "think", One should always "Know" their gun is unloaded by checking and rechecking. OK, rant off now.

[tarkus]

Or, these types of "cleaning accidents" happen when some brain-dead idiot is playing with a gun and claims he was "cleaning" it when it "just went off."

There you go using logic again.

[cwohardy]

I have taught my son from day 1 that there is no such thing as an unloaded weapon. We came back from the range after the first time he had ever fired. I made him strip and clean and reassemble the gun. As soon as he had re assembled the gun I asked him "loaded or unloaded?" he immediately said Loaded!

One of the few great truths the Army has every taught me...................

[Lodge2004]

The first time my daughter went to the range with me, I played a guessing game with her by asking if the handgun was loaded or unloaded and then asked her to point at the target and squeeze the trigger to get the answer. Then I'd take the pistol, "clear it" and hand back to her and go through the process again. A couple of times I'd reverse the process of unloading (i.e. rack slide and then remove magazine) or palm a live round into the chamber. After several variations she realized there is no way to actually know, even if dad said it was cleared, without visually checking the chamber herself. It's a lesson she will hopefully never forget.

[Fangs]

My grandfather used to say, "The Devil loads guns when you're not looking" ..Meaning of course that you might think it's unloaded when it's not and nothing good can come of it. It's surprising to hear that she took a bullet through the head and looks like she'll recover.

[dukalmighty]

The only way I know to make sure a gun is unloaded is to check it myself,If your friends are safe gun handlers they should lock the action open and hand the weapon to you while pointed in a safe direction,after examining/shooting etc. you hand it back the same way.

[Kinetic]

Absolutely no reason for something like this to happen. Improper firearm handling, period. I know I will be flamed for saying this, but I never have a round chambered because I have children in the house. Even though they do not have access to it, and they know never to touch it, I still never have a round chambered. Even so, when I need to dry fire it for whatever reason, I always leave the mag out, and I check the breach, and then I do not trust my eyes and I check it again. I may look in there 3 or 4 times or more, even putting it near a light so that I can see it clearly, before I point in a safe direction and pull the trigger. You can never be too safe, or check too many times before dry firing. This type of thing is inexcusable. He has no business being anywhere near a firearm. I hope the baby makes a full recovery.

[dewayneward]

EVERY time I touch a gun, the FIRST thing I do is drop the mag and clear the action. The only time the gun is "loaded" is when it is on my person (holstered of course) or being put in a gun safe. When the gun is unholstered to be put away, the barrell is ALWAYS straight down while the mag is released and the action gets cleared (I always keep one in the chamber when I am out and about).

I have written and rewritten what I think of the guy that did it...I couldnt keep it safe for 9 years old (I couldnt keep it 90 years old and under)

I hope the poor girl makes a full recovery.

[TheArmedFarmer]

I always leave the mag out, and I check the breach, and then I do not trust my eyes and I check it again. I may look in there 3 or 4 times or more, even putting it near a light so that I can see it clearly, before I point in a safe direction and pull the trigger.

One more thing to do: stick your finger down there and feel the feed ramp and make sure it's empty. Now your finger is helping your eyes.

[TTUchris]

I always hate the wording in articles like this - "cleaning his gun in the living room when it discharged one round." The fault is always shifted to the gun. IT discharged a round. Next time I get pulled over for speeding I'm going to tell the officer that my car was going 80mph, not me. Give IT the ticket. Journalists love to depict guns as objects capable of "going off" or "discharging a round." If you possess a firearm and a round is fired, it is on YOU. YOU caused it to fire. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but this is super frustrating.