May 18, 2023

In Texas, a 1-year-old boy had to undergo surgery after his 4-year-old brother shot him in the leg after finding an unsecured pistol in their home. According to The father, the child likely mistook the gun for a toy gun. I hate calling these accidental shootings because securing firearms with children at home is very easy.

KPRC reports:

"A 4-year-old had found an unsecured weapon inside the house and while playing with that gun, shot the 1-year-old sibling in the lower left leg," HCSO Deputy Thomas Gilliland said at the scene.

The toddler was quickly rushed to the hospital for surgery. HCSO's Crime Against Children Unit is looking into what happened.

"Determine why the gun was unsecured and how he was able to get that gun and manipulate it and then fire it," Deputy Gilliland said.
Off camera, the boys' father told KPRC 2 News he never thought he'd be in this situation with his children because he is a gun owner and said he knows how to safely store it. He wasn't home when it happened, but said the boys were with their mother and her family members when they got ahold of a pistol.

The father said he believes curiosity got the best of his son and doesn't believe it would have happened if he was home.

"Four-year-olds, 5-year-olds, they're inquisitive. Having it unsecured can lead to tragic things like this," Deputy Gilliland said. "These are things that we really don't like responding to, we have more and more of them happening."

If the father is a gun owner who knows how to safely secure a firearm as he claims, then his baby wouldn't be going through surgery right now. After all, as Dad said, children are curious.

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