Houston toddler accidentally
fatally shoots baby brother

This is horrible. If it went down as described it is definitely the parent's fault for leaving the weapon unsecured and loaded, even if unintentional. The death of a child is always tragic, made even more so when it is an infant. The poor three year old will have to live with this forever. I love my guns and will defend them to the death, but when there are untrained kids around they should be put away.

Sure sounds suspicious. And the gun is missing for several hours and then found in the car? Right.

Oh great. Here we go....

Thank goodness they didn't get in a fatal auto accident on the way to the hospital.

"It’s still unclear how the toddler got his hands on the gun or why it was lying around." The gun clearly had a mind of its own. That's why it went missing for several hours and then showed up in the car. /s

This is negligence, not an accident. Was avoidable, and Adults shd have been responsible for the gun.

Doesn’t pass the smell test.

Subscription wall. It is irresponsible as hell to leave a loaded weapon where a toddler can get to it. Or a bottle of drain cleaner, or a kitchen knife, or a hundred other things that a toddler will harm himself or others with out of ignorance and curiosity. This is on the adults around the child.

More than a few of these "toddler gets gun" events are actually a brainless adult shoots a kid (accidentally or whatever) and blames it on the toddler, deflecting the blame from himself or herself. And a side note. The other false claim is "I dropped the gun and it went off". All handguns designed since about 1895 have multiple internal mechanical safeties which make this somewhere between absolutely impossible to less likely than getting struck by lightning, but just barely possible. ALWAYS be doubtful of "dropped gun" stories. 99+% are lies to cover incompetent gun handling and a negligent discharge by human error.

My husband was a police officer. He always kept his gun high and out of reach but any child can figure out how to climb. I wanted him to buy a small gun safe to house it, leading to a debate that went something like this: A five year old isn't strong enough to pull the trigger. I told him fine, then unload the gun and give it to him and see what happens. Within about 10 seconds, my 5 year old put both index fingers in the trigger and pulled. We bought the gun safe the next day and it remained locked when not in use until they were no longer in the house. It keeps not only them safe but also their inquisitive friends. Very sad story. Hopefully it will serve as a lesson to others. Sometimes it's not negligence, it may just be naivete' and under-estimating the ingenuity of a young child.

I'm suspicious the toddler had the finger strength to hold the gun, aim the gun and pull the trigger...based on experience with my own gun. All that said, once again we hear about a gun lying around the house that is easily accessible to a child. STUCK ON STUPID! P.S. How long is it safe to leave a toddler and an infant alone long enough for much of any mischief to occur? A toddler could hit the infant with any number of household items to hand.

An alternative approach, #10, taken by a young police officer friend. I suggest that it can only work for somewhat older children who are beginning to be at least a bit rational. The father was worried about his 6 year old son getting his police revolver and having an accident. So, he decided to set up some rules for the boy, since he was clearly aware that 'Daddy has a gun' when he went to or returned from work wearing it in a holster. He told the boy that there was a new rule in the house. The rule was that ANY TIME that the boy wanted to "see" (and handle) the gun, all he had to do was ask and the answer was GUARANTEED to be yes, unless there was company or a few other temporary situations. Any other time, "ask and ye shall recieve". BUT, there was a connected rule....if you ever touch the gun without asking, you will be in more trouble than you can even imagine. Ask and you WILL get to handle it, don't ask and be in massive trouble. The boy immediately asked, "Dad, can I see your gun?" The father pulled it from his holster, unloaded it and handed it to the boy. Then the "never point it" rule was explained and gently enforced. The kid played with it for about 30 mintues, handling, sighting, clicking the action by pulling the trigger - carefully guided to keep it in a safe direction. Eventually he tired of it and the gun was put away. The next evening, he asked to see it again, and was granted, and handled it for about 6 or 8 minutes. A couple of days later, he asked again, and was granted, handled it for about a minute, and was done. The father told me he thought that this was a test only. The kid would ask to see the gun about once a year or less, and that was the end of that. I was told this by a police officer friend a number of years ago, and always thought it was an interesting, and for that family, effective approach. Gun safes were unknown at that time, and gun locks were rarely seen, may have existed, I never saw one. It clearly wouldn't work for a 3 year old, and would best be judged by each individual parent and their children. It worked fine for my friend. The curiosity about the gun petered out pretty rapidly.

Not buying this. One of the "adults" fired the weapon. As soon as HPD detectives figure out which one, Harris Country DA Kim Ogg will immediately release him/her w/out bail.

Did they test him for COVID?

That works too, #12. We waited until they were a little older and taught gun safety, allowed them to shoot BB guns with supervision and eventually, they got tired of it!

Unless he's a Shaquille O'Neal size three-year-old, I'm not buying it.

Were they people of color? Will they say it?

We had similar rules to others described here when my daughters were little. If they wanted to see guns we would get them out and immediately they would rattle off the safety rules. Then they would tell me how to check to make sure it was unloaded. They could point out all the safeties on a 1911 before they were teens. By their mid teens they both were very competent marksmen. Today they are in their 30's and both have large families and carry concealed. Never an accident. Take away the mystique and things are better.

A crock of crap from the word go.

Mom has been leaving kid alone watching gun-controller Liam Neeson shootem’up movies.

Can a 3 year old even get his hand around the grip?