World News Korner

Two year old kills eleven year old sister with unsecured handgun. Yay, 2nd Amendment.

Courtesy of The Salt Lake Tribune:

A 2-year-old boy apparently shot and killed his 11-year-old sister while they and their siblings played with a gun inside a Philadelphia home, police said Sunday.

Jamara Stevens was fatally shot Saturday morning with a gun that police believe was brought into the home by the mother’s boyfriend a few hours earlier.

The mother was home with her four children in a master bedroom, Lt. John Walker said. Police say the shooting occurred when she left the room at about 10 a.m. to use the bathroom.

The 2-year-old pointed the loaded, cocked gun in the direction of his sister and the gun discharged, according to investigators.

The fatal bullet struck Jamara’s shoulder and then traveled to her chest. Jamara was rushed to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, but died about a half-hour later, police said.

It appears that the boyfriend at least TRIED to place the gun out of reach of the children. However it seems he did not understand the tenacity of children in their efforts to get their hands on something new and forbidden.

Police believe the mother’s boyfriend had brought the gun to the house and stashed it on top of a refrigerator. It’s not immediately clear who brought it to the bedroom.

Homicide detectives are investigating and will forward information to the district attorney’s office, police said. No charges have been filed.

And it is unlikely that any charges will be filed, since this appears to be the very definition of an accidental shooting.

However it is an accident that simply could not have taken place before the arrival of the boyfriend, and his weapon.

I am sure the boyfriend believed that his gun made him and everybody around him safer, only to learn that often it has just the opposite effect.

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