3-year-old boy shot with Dad's unsecured gun (Gilchrist County, Florida)

Yet another UNNAMED DAD who just couldn't be bothered to secure his guns properly even though young children were in the home.

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20091025/ARTICLES/910251010/1002?Title=Toddler-OK-in-morning-gun-accident

Toddler OK in morning gun accident
A nearly 3-year-old Gilchrist boy was accidentally shot in the shoulder. Who was holding gun isn't being released.
By Karen Voyles
Staff writer
Published: Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 11:52 p.m.

A nearly 3-year-old Gilchrist County boy was shot in the back of his shoulder with a handgun Saturday morning.

The Gilchrist County Sheriff's Office said the child is expected to recover.

Emergency officials said the little boy was able to communicate at the scene before he was taken to Shands at the University of Florida.

The boy's name is not being released because the case was reported to the Florida Department of Children and Families for investigation as possible abuse or neglect.

Gilchrist County Sheriff's Maj. Tony Smith said the shooting happened just before 8:30 a.m. inside the house outside Bell where the boy lives with two other children. The other children, a 10-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, were reportedly in the home at the time of the shooting.

According to Smith, a single shot from a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson handgun went through the boy's shoulder blade and exited out through his arm.

Investigators would not say who may have been holding the gun when it was fired. Smith confirmed that the gun belonged to the boy's father, whose name was not being released to protect the identity of the boy during the state child welfare investigation.

"We know that the gun belongs to the dad and that he thought it was unloaded," Smith said.

The investigation was continuing late Saturday.

According to the Web site maintained by the non-profit organization Safe Kids USA, the apparently unintentional shooting happened when and where most gun accidents happen.

Statistics compiled by the Washington, D.C.-based organization show gun accidents most often involve boys who are in their own or a relative's rural home on a weekend where a handgun is kept.

The Web site also noted that Americans own nearly 200 million firearms, including 65 million handguns.

A third of families with children - 22 million children in 11 million homes - have at least one gun. An estimated 3.3 million children in the U.S. live in homes where guns are sometimes or always loaded and unlocked.