5-Year-Old Playing With Gun Shoots And Kills Infant Brother

In yet another tragic accident, an infant was shot in the head and killed by his five-year-old brother. The boy had gotten a hold of a gun belonging to his grandfather, who probably considered himself to be a “responsible gun owner.”

From Wikimedia
By Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia Wikimedia Commons

NBC News reported:

“The mother, identified as Alexis Wiederholt, originally told dispatchers that the tot had been shot by his brother with a paintball gun. Upon arriving at the home Elmo, Missouri, authorities determined that a .22-caliber Magnum revolver had been used, police said.”

It is being reported that the .22-caliber gun was kept out in the open on a shelf built into a headboard in the master bedroom. The infant also slept in the same room. The “responsible gun owner” neglected to keep the gun in a safe place, and for that reason and that reason alone, the infant is dead.

A gun safety expert, Don Pind, told local news stations:

“…the parents need to keep them away from it; lock them up, whether it be in a gun sock? padlocks are available free from the police and sheriffs? offices.”

A?neighbor described them as “a good family” and added that she hopes people pray for them.

Shockingly, when addressing reporters, Nodaway County Sheriff Darren White is quoted as saying, “…guns are great.” White followed that up by saying that leaving guns loaded and unattended is what leads to “things like this.” Yes Sheriff White, it probably is.

This example of carelessness is unlikely to spark a new debate over gun control unfortunately as it will be pinned as an isolated incident. It is already being called an accident. The truth, though, is that it was not an isolated incident. Much to the contrary in fact.

In 2010, 15,576 children and teens were injured by guns, a number that is nearly three times the total number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. Furthermore, USA Today reported last year:

“Nationally, guns still kill twice as many children and young people than cancer, five times as many than heart disease and 15 times more than infection, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.”

Additionally, having a gun in the home does less to protect your family and more to put them at risk of becoming a victim of gun violence, says USA Today.

“A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be used in a completed or attempted suicide (11 times more likely), a criminal assault or homicide (seven times more likely), or unintentional shooting death or injury (four times more likely) than in a self-defense shooting.”

The gun violence epidemic is hitting the United States hard, and our culture seems to embrace guns in a way we never have before in history. By romanticizing gun culture and guns in general, we as a nation are failing our children, and we need to change that.