A high-profile pro-gun activist was rushed to hospital after she was shot in the back by her four-year-old son after he found her pistol lying on the back seat of her truck.
Jamie Gilt, 31, who posts about firearms on her social media accounts was driving through Putnam County, Jacksonville, Florida yesterday in her truck when she was wounded.
Her four-year-old son picked up a loaded .45 semi-automatic handgun from the back seat, pointed it towards his mother and pulled the trigger. The powerful round went through the front seat and passed through Gilt's body.
Gilt flagged down a passing Sheriff's deputy and told him that she had been shot. Deputies recovered a .45 semi-automatic handgun from the floor of the truck. They are satisfied that the round was fired from inside the vehicle. Gilt and her son had been travelling to pick up a horse from a relative when the accident happened.
Putman County Sheriff's office spokesman Joseph Wells said a deputy noticed a truck with a horse trailer driving erratically: 'As the deputy slowed to check on the vehicle, he observed an adult female in the driver’s seat motioning to him as if she needed assistance. The deputy ran to the vehicle and quickly determined that the driver had been shot. The deputy notified the dispatcher of the situation and Putnam County Fire / Rescue was dispatched. The deputy provided first aid until the arrival of paramedics. The victim was transported to University of Florida Health in Gainesville and was last reported to be in stable condition. The only other occupant of the vehicle was the victim’s four-year-old son, who was unharmed.
Before being transported to the emergency room, the victim told deputies that her son had accidentally shot her. The investigation by Major Crimes Unit Detectives and the analysis of the crime scene confirmed that the victim was accidentally shot by the young boy who was sitting in the back seat of the vehicle. 'The young man was reunited with other family members and Putnam County Sheriff’s Office Victim Services Specialists continue to work with the family. The Florida Department of Children and Family Services are being notified and the investigation into how the child came to be in possession of the handgun is ongoing.
According the Florida Times Union, the responding deputy noticed the boy was not strapped to the booster seat in the car when he arrived at the scene. Wells said: 'We’re satisfied that this is not a criminal shooting.' However Gilt may face criminal charges if the State Attorney's Office determine there was negligence on how the child obtained the firearm.
This is why I get SO PISSED OFF at my pro-gun relatives. Kids that little don't know "don't touch" when confronted with a shiny new object, and yet the pro-gun parents are all "if you raise them right..." You CAN'T raise a 4 year old to not touch a gun or other object he's never seen before, and is shiny and new and cool. And every time I see "ANTI-GUN STATES WON'T POST THIS!" I want to throw my computer through the wall. Yes, I know you live on a ranch. Yes, I know you have guns. That doesn't negate the need for gun CONTROL (which is NOT the same as being "anti-gun" people!)
And that last sentence is the be-all, end-all. This was not an "accident." This was an "incident." An accident would have been if the gun had a trigger-lock and the kid was safely buckled in his car seat but somehow the gun flew right into his hands, or the gun self-discharged. No gun should ever be anywhere near the hands of a small child. If it's not locked and stowed, it's not an accident. THAT is gun control, not "taking away my guns, yo!"
Gee, if there had only been some kind of warning that this could happen. Someone, somewhere, to tell her that keeping a loaded gun around a child was dangerous.
You play Russian Roulette, you lose (win?) Russian Roulette.
A kid who is unbuckled in the back of a moving vehicle and is 4 years old.
I love that there's an investigation into how he got the gun. HEY GUYS. I WASN'T EVEN THERE AND I THINK I'VE FIGURED IT OUT.
Your duty to keep your child safe, including from your own fucking gun, trumps about everything else. You failed, lady, and are damn lucky you or your kid didn't die as a result of your negligence. You're just the type of person who doesn't deserve the right to a firearm because you can't practice basic safety with it.
And the fact that she has a "right to protect her children with a gun" but doesn't even buckle her kids in? Get the F out of here with that nonsense. Gun fetishists drive me nuts.
Yeah, this is what set my rage meter to high. She has a right to protect her child with a gun but protect him with a Fing carseat? Bridge too far! But my rights as a parent...blah blah blah. No ma'am.
I'm amazed that a mother would so casually leave her loaded gun in the back seat of her car with her child. She's lucky she didn't get shot in the head and she's very lucky that her stupidity didn't cost her son his life.
Why is it so hard for people to lock up their weapons? She had a 4 year old sitting in the car and nothing rang in her head like, 'Oh shit, my gun's back there' A pro-gun enthusiast should know all about how to properly store their weapon....my mistake to assume that.
That poor kid. I am so, so, so glad that she didn't die, because that would have been a horrific way for him to grow up. Seriously, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I got to the part where she didnt' die.
I'm assuming her son was in a booster seat and the gun was probably on the seat, so I wouldn't say that he necessarily wasn't restrained. I've certainly seen kids in booster seats who were properly buckled but leaned over to grab something.
But then, someone who leaves a loaded 45 next to a four year old clearly doesn't have an ounce of common sense, so who knows.
I'm assuming her son was in a booster seat and the gun was probably on the seat, so I wouldn't say that he necessarily wasn't restrained. I've certainly seen kids in booster seats who were properly buckled but leaned over to grab something.
But then, someone who leaves a loaded 45 next to a four year old clearly doesn't have an ounce of common sense, so who knows.
Per the OP:
According the Florida Times Union, the responding deputy noticed the boy was not strapped to the booster seat in the car when he arrived at the scene.
Maybe he unbuckled himself, but then again, maybe not. What I *do* know is that when mine even tried to reach for the seat belt, there was a firm "don't play with the seat belt" from the front seat. I didn't have a lot of problems with roaming children in cars, and I'm sure there are a lot of others here who could say the same. First order of business...lock the kids down, for their safety and everyone around them.
I'm assuming her son was in a booster seat and the gun was probably on the seat, so I wouldn't say that he necessarily wasn't restrained. I've certainly seen kids in booster seats who were properly buckled but leaned over to grab something.
But then, someone who leaves a loaded 45 next to a four year old clearly doesn't have an ounce of common sense, so who knows.
Per the OP:
According the Florida Times Union, the responding deputy noticed the boy was not strapped to the booster seat in the car when he arrived at the scene.
Maybe he unbuckled himself, but then again, maybe not. What I *do* know is that when mine even tried to reach for the seat belt, there was a firm "don't play with the seat belt" from the front seat. I didn't have a lot of problems with roaming children in cars, and I'm sure there are a lot of others here who could say the same. First order of business...lock the kids down, for their safety and everyone around them.
I didn't see that part, so yeah, never mind! She doesn't care for her kid's safety in multiple ways!
Post by downtoearth on Mar 9, 2016 13:02:04 GMT -5
I hope she recovers, but we should all write that State AG office to request charges for child endangerment. Unbuckled or able to unbuckle AND in arms reach of a loaded gun is child endangerment! IMO she should not be able to keep her kids and her gun rights - one or the other for her - I'd even let her pick.
For someone so concerned with "safety" she couldn't bother to restrain her child properly. 4 year olds should be harnassed, not boostered. But she was too wrapped up in her guns to bother with that little detail.
For someone so concerned with "safety" she couldn't bother to restrain her child properly. 4 year olds should be harnassed, not boostered. But she was too wrapped up in her guns to bother with that little detail.
It's ok, she has a gun! She can just shoot car accidents!