12-year old Pennsylvania child unintentionally shot in the face by 11-year old shooter

12-year old and 11-year children were in an apartment in Camden, Pennsylvania, under the care of a 19-year old, when the younger child got hold of a loaded, unsecured gun and unintentionally shot the older child in the nasal area of his face, luckily not killing him.

From an article:

The bullet wounded the child in the nasal area, but fortunately seems to have avoided hitting his brain. 

The 12-year-old was bleeding profusely from the face, a witness told Action News, but was conscious and standing when medical help arrived. 

The Camden County Prosecutor's Office said an 11-year-old fired the weapon, but the circumstances remain under investigation. 

"We have the 11-year-old and the 11-year-old's parents with us, they are fully cooperative. We're trying to get to the bottom of what happened," Chief Scott Thomson of the Camden County Regional Police. 

A 19-year-old relative of the victim was in the apartment with the boys when the shooting occurred. 

Police are working to figure out who owns the gun. There are laws in New Jersey that require gun owners to keep guns safe from children, by either keeping it in a safe place or keeping it locked. 

Police say, at this time, the shooting appears to be accidental.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

2 year old Texas child shoots himself with gun while parent nearby

Another two year old has shot himself with a family gun. From the article from Coriscana, Texas:

Police say a 2-year-old boy has died after accidentally shooting himself in the head at a North Texas home while his father was nearby.

Corsicana police on Thursday identified the victim as Kinsler Davis.

Police Chief Randy Bratton says the father called 911 on Wednesday night to report the shooting. The wounded boy was transported to a Corsicana hospital and then on to a Dallas hospital where he died later Wednesday.

Bratton says the boy apparently found a handgun in a bedroom. The child's 35-year-old father was in the walk-in closet of the bedroom at the time of the shooting.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through an adult.

About access to guns and kids

We found this article by Sanjay Sanghoee that addresses the overall problem of kids and rifles after some recent shootings. From the article:

This week a two-year-old girl in Kentucky was accidentally shot and killed by her five-year-old brother with a Crickett, which is a 'kid's rifle.' When I saw the headlines, I thought it must have been some freak accident involving an airsoft gun, the kind which fires pellets that are not usually lethal, but I was wrong.

The Crickett, you see, is nothing like an airsoft gun but is a mini-rifle for children with a .22 caliber. Think of a pickup truck with all its trimmings but only half the size of a regular pickup truck and you get the idea behind a kid's rifle. It may be smaller but it is just as effective (or in this case, deadly).

I understand that there is a rich culture of guns in the United States and that weapons are often passed on proudly from parents to children as heirlooms. Also understandably, those parents want to teach their children how to use those guns safely and responsibly. American parents teach their children how to drive, how to court the opposite sex, even how to drink responsibly when they get older, and all of this training is crucial for a child's development.

But none of this training needs to start at the age of five, or six, or seven, or anywhere near there! 

In response to the shooting in Kentucky, Cumberland County Judge Executive John Phelps said, "It's a normal way of life, and it's not just rural Kentucky, it's rural America -- hunting and shooting and sport fishing. It starts at an early age."

It may be a way of life, but that doesn't mean it's sensible or right. I am glad that parents in rural America want to educate their children about guns so that they can grow up to be responsible gun owners, but would those same parents show their son or daughter how to drive and then let them loose on the road before they are in their mid-teens? Of course not, and that's because it's unsafe for children and it's unsafe for everyone else.

Then what exactly were the parents of a five-year-old doing buying him a .22 caliber rifle (even if it's a smaller version), and what exactly is the company who makes Cricketts, Keystone Sporting Arms, doing marketing rifles to children as if they were toys?

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

13 year old Florida boy shoots 6 year old sister

In the Miami area, there have been 3 recent accidental shootings of a child. In this case, a 13 year old boy shot his sister in the chest. From an article:

The pictures told a story about how a 13-year-old boy accidentally shot his 6-year-old sister while they were left alone in their Oakland Park home Saturday night.

The teen, whose small frame belies his actual age, drew sketches for investigators to help him explain how the gun he found discharged, sending a bullet into his sister’s chest.

The girl, whose name has not been released, was fighting for her life Sunday as Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies and family members tried to piece together what happened.

It is the third accidental shooting of a child by another since November.

“The little boy just sat there rocking back and forth,” said a neighbor. “It’s just so devastating. They had just moved in two weeks ago.”

The shooting happened around 7 p.m. in the 5900 block of Northeast Second Terrace in Oakland Park.

The boy, whose name is being withheld by police, had been home alone with his sibling when neighbors heard the gun blast.

The girl was alert when police and paramedics arrived, said BSO spokeswoman Dani Moschella. She was listed in critical but stable condition Sunday at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale.

“She seems like a fighter,” Moschella said. Details were sketchy Sunday afternoon because homicide detectives also were working a fatal shooting on Interstate 95 Sunday morning in Oakland Park.

Investigators continued to work the shooting scene Sunday. It was not known whether the teen was placed under arrest.

By law, the gun should have been locked in a safe place. Under Florida law, leaving a loaded firearm “within the reach or easy access of a minor” who uses it to inflict injury or death is considered a third-degree felony.

“The problem is children have a fascination with firearms...when they see a firearm they see it on TV and in movies and a lot of times they have toy guns, so when they find a gun they want to see what happens. People tend not to be as cautious as they should be and tragedies happen,” Jon Gutmacher, a gun-law expert, NRA-certified firearms instructor and attorney said following the March 30 shooting of a 4-year-old girl last month.

That incident happened when a 6-year-old boy shot a 4-year-old girl with a gun he had found in a car parked outside his grandparents’ home in Northwest Miami-Dade.

The girl, Rahquel Carr, died a short time later. Police said that the girl’s mother, Turquisha Peacock, 26, was about to drive the children home, and had briefly left them in the vehicle unattended. She was steps from the car when she heard the gunshot.

The case remains under investigation.

In November, 13-year-old Lourdes Guzman-DeJesus was killed by a teenager who had been playing with a gun on a school bus in South Miami-Dade. Suspect Jordyn Howe, 15, of Homestead, pulled the .40-caliber pistol from his backpack to show it to another student when the weapon went off. The gun belonged to his father. His parents told investigators the gun was kept in a closet.

Howe will be tried as an adult on felony charges of manslaughter and carrying a concealed firearm.

Lourdes’ father, Armando “Alex” Guzman-Cirino, 34, committed suicide a few days after his daughter’s death.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

(a related report on this shooting)

8-year old Alaskan boy shoots and kills 5-year old sister with his hunting rifle

An 8-year old boy in the remote Alaskan town of Mountain Village was home alone with his 5-year old sister while their parents were away.  The boy then accessed a Ruger .22 rifle that he was used to using for hunting and shot his sister dead.

From an article:

Few details were available Tuesday, but the 8-year-old was reportedly playing with a .22-caliber Ruger rifle when the weapon discharged, fatally shooting his sister at about 2:20 p.m. Monday. It was not immediately clear if the shooting was accidental or intentional, and the girl's body was sent to the State Medical Examiner's office in Anchorage for an autopsy. The boy was familiar with the weapon and had used it the previous day to go hunting, according to Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters. 

Peters added it was too early to say if the parents of the slain girl would face any potential charges related to leaving the children unattended for the "short period" in which the shooting took place. "It all depends on the facts of the case," and what the investigation reveals, she said.

From another article, questioning the age at which children should be granted:

The shootings are raising a serious question: how young is too young to be introduced to firearms? 

At Wild West Guns in Anchorage they sell lots of firearms that are meant for children.
“Basically they’re just like regular guns,” explained Byran Swanda, a gunsmith at Wild West. 

“They are just scaled down so that smaller people can handle them and use them comfortably.” 

Swanda has no problem with children and guns, and says he got his first rifle when he was three. ... 

But the recent accidental shooting of a two-year-old girl by her five-year-old brother has some asking why a child so young should have a gun, especially a kind manufactured just for children. 

“You can’t provide a child below a certain age a weapon like that, it’s ridiculous said Anchorage resident Bernard Wheeler, who added that he believed the parents in the Kentucky case should be prosecuted. 

Steve Untiet agrees that parents need to assess their child’s maturity. His shop, Alaska Custom Firearms carries the “My First Rifle” in pink, the same kind used in the Kentucky shooting. Untiet bought the same rifle for is daughter when she was young. 

“I started my daughter at four and half, almost five,” said Untiet.”She didn’t get to carry it but she was shooting it. She learned how to operate it, she learned how to load and unload it safely. She was ready but I know kids who are twelve who aren’t ready.” 

In Alaska, children can’t legally buy guns, but their parents can buy guns for them. 

Authorities say it’s up to parents to determine when their child is ready for a firearm, then to teach them how to use it responsibly.

Children and guns don't mix.  It's obvious to anyone other than those immersed in pro-gun culture that children of this young of an age have not yet developed critical thinking and judgement sufficient for safety around lethal weapons, particularly firearms.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

17-year old Ohio boy attempts shooting suicide in school during class

A 17-year old boy had just started 1st period in his Cincinnati, Ohio, classroom, with 21 other students in his private Catholic school, when he pulled out a gun, put it to his right temple, and pulled the trigger.

The boy is now in critical condition.  No one else was injured.

The boy was a star pupil.

From an article:

Green Township police said there were at least 21 other students in the first-period classroom Monday morning at the all-male Catholic school west of Cincinnati. Teacher Michael Holman told police he was at his desk when he heard yelling, then saw the youth struggle briefly with the handgun, put it to his right temple and fire. 

He "discharged one round into his head," the police report stated. 

The student is a junior and an honors student. He made the top honor roll on the most recent academic report and has been active in Boy Scouts. School spokesman Greg Tankersley said he has an extensive record of community service, and has been "highly involved" in school life. .... 

Green Township police were investigating how the boy obtained what they described only as a semi-automatic handgun.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

5-year old Kentucky boy kills 2-year old sister with his .22 rifle

2-year old Carolyn Starks and her 5-year old brother

A 5-year old boy was playing with a .22 rifle that had specifically been purchased for him to use, and unintentionally shot his 2-year old sister, Carolyn Starks, killing her.

From an article:

The 2-year-old was taken to Cumberland County Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. An autopsy has been scheduled for Wednesday. 

Cumberland County Coroner Gary White identified the girl as Caroline Starks.
He said the children's mother was at home when the shooting occurred, and the gun was a gift the boy received last year. 

"It's a Crickett," he said. "It's a little rifle for a kid. ...The little boy's used to shooting the little gun." 

White said the gun was kept in a corner, and the family did not realize a shell had been left in it. 

He said the shooting will be ruled accidental. 

"Just one of those crazy accidents," White said.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/04/30/2621458/5-year-old-boy-accidentally-shoots.html#storylink=cpyhttp://www.kentucky.com/2013/04/30/2621458/5-year-old-boy-accidentally-shoots.html#storylink=cpy

No, it wasn't just a "crazy accident."  It was negligence on the part of the parents who purchased the gun specifically for the 5-year old boy to use, then left it loaded where he could access it.

A child, unrelated to this case, shooting a Cricket .22 rifle
(image from HERE)

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

ADDENDUM:  From a CNN article:

The Crickett website features three .22-caliber rifle models for kids, with shoulder stock colors ranging from pink to red, white and blue swirls. "My first rifle" is the company's slogan.

Family members Wednesday described the shooting as an accident.

"He just picked (the gun) up before he realized it," grandmother Linda Riddle told WLEX.

Riddle said her granddaughter enjoyed singing and playing outdoors, and she loved her brother.

"It's just tragic," uncle David Mann told the CNN affiliate. "It's something that you can't prepare for."

Riddle said she is devastated, but comforted knowing that her granddaughter is in a better place.

"It was God's will. It was her time to go, I guess," she told WLEX. "I just know she's in heaven right now and I know she's in good hands with the Lord."

We respectfully disagree with uncle David Mann and grandmother Linda Riddle.  It IS something you can prepare for, by storing the gun locked and unloaded, or by avoiding having guns in homes with children.  And you don't have to accept that it was "her time to go" when it was completely avoidable.

ADDENDUM (5/3/13):  A good article, questioning what age is too young to be given access to loaded guns:

[Gunsmith] Swanda has no problem with children and guns, and says he got his first rifle when he was three. 

“It’s just like anything else,” said Swanda, “they are easier to teach at a young age and it gets ingrained in their minds. They are apt to grow up to be more responsible adults and more responsible gun owners.” 

But the recent accidental shooting of a two-year-old girl by her five-year-old brother has some asking why a child so young should have a gun, especially a kind manufactured just for children.
“You can’t provide a child below a certain age a weapon like that, it’s ridiculous said Anchorage resident Bernard Wheeler, who added that he believed the parents in the Kentucky case should be prosecuted.

Children of this age have not yet acquired critical thinking skills and responsibility to handle lethal weapons.