A 10-year-old boy is in serious condition after being accidentally shot by his babysitter. It happened when his 19-year-old aunt, Caitlyn Smith, was watching him and was reportedly taking selfies while holding a gun that she apparently believed to be unloaded.
The incident took place in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday. Officials with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report that a 10-year-old had been shot, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a statement. The boy was immediately taken to a nearby hospital, where he was listed in critical condition. He underwent surgery, and his condition improved to serious. The officer said while the boy's condition is still serious, he is expected to make a full recovery.
The boy's aunt was arrested and charged with injury to a child, serious bodily injury, a second-degree felony. She was booked on Wednesday and her bond was listed as $20,000. This incident raises some important issues about both gun safety and how responsible teens are when it comes to what they're posting online, sometimes making dangerous choices when seeking attention on the internet.
According to a CNN report, Smith found the gun while she was babysitting her 10-year-old nephew. She thought the weapon was not loaded. So she started posing with it and taking selfies. Then the gun unexpectedly went off.
A shot was fired, hitting the 10-year-old boy in the stomach. Luckily, what could've quickly been a fatal accident was not. His injuries were still quite serious, but the fact that he's expected to recover fully must be an incredible relief to his family.
The fact that this incident took place at all is concerning, though. Guns, whether loaded or unloaded, need to be kept in a safe place, away from kids or even teens who might stumble upon them. In this situation, the boy was extremely lucky because it could have ended up far worse.
“Firearms are dangerous weapons so take precautions to make sure things like that don’t happen,” Harris County Senior Deputy Thomas Gilliland told CNN. “Taking selfies was not the best thing to be doing.” It seems like it should go without saying that taking selfies with a gun is not a good idea. However, selfie culture is pretty huge on social media. The teen likely thought this would be an opportunity to get some "likes."
These days, we see tons of viral challenges — kids posting things that aren't necessarily safe online — simply to get attention. It's a bit frightening, especially when serious accidents like this happen. And it should be a lesson to kids to think through their actions and always put safety before internet popularity.
The bigger issue at hand is a loaded gun being inside a home where it is easily accessible to kids or to a teenage babysitter — in this case, one who obviously didn't understand gun safety. Not only should there not be a gun where kids can easily get their hands on it, it certainly shouldn't be loaded. Guns should always be locked up.
Accidental shootings don't happen that frequently, relative to other gun incidents. Accidental and preventable gun deaths make up 1% of overall gun-related deaths in the US, according to the National Safety Council. While that number doesn't sound that big, it can add up. In 2016 alone, there were 495 accidental firearm deaths. Clearly, that's far too many deaths happening from preventable incidents like this.
Most of those accidental deaths affect adolescents and children. They occur mainly among those under 25 years old. Too many young people are harmed by guns. In 2014, 2,549 people ages zero to 19 died by gunshot. An additional 13,576 were injured.
While there has been a huge debate around gun control waging for years, which gets more heated each time there is a mass shooting, what we should all be able to agree on is that if you are going to have a gun, it needs to be stored safely. Gun owners can play a huge part in cutting down on gun-related deaths and injuries by being responsible and following established safety guidelines. If there's a gun in your house, make sure it is unloaded if there are ever kids around.
Luckily, this child should make a full recovery. But hopefully there's something to learn from this event. Guns aren't toys, and taking selfies with them is never a good idea simply to grab some attention online. But more importantly, guns need to be stored safely by their owners to prevent tragedies that should never occur.
