To date, TTAG has posted some 23k posts. In that time, we’ve attempted not to repeat ourselves. Of course, we have. The anti-gunners keep trotting-out the same reasons to infringe on your natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. We keep shooting them down. Much of our self-defense advice – including our ever-expanding Guns for Beginners posts – covers familiar ground, starting with the four rules of gun safety. I, personally, have railed against off-body carry for years. Without apology, understanding the importance of this topic, I’m going to do so again here, inspired by this tragic tale [via wlwt.com] . . .
Police said the 3-year-old boy fatally shot in a Hamilton home was playing with a gun he had found in his mom’s purse when he shot himself.
Police said the 3-year-old who was shot in Hamilton has died.
The toddler, identified as Marques Green, shot himself in the chest just after 3:45 p.m. Thursday in the home located in the 700 block of Gordon Smith Boulevard, police said.
Neighbors tell WLWT the victim lived with his mom and 10-year-old brother.
Police said the gun belongs to the boy’s mother and the boy had removed the weapon from her purse. He was playing with it when it fired.
In the 911 call the boy’s mother made, she told the dispatcher they had just returned home and she put her purse down and was in the kitchen when the shooting happened.
My son just shot himself and I’m not getting a pulse,” she said, later telling the dispatcher, “His eyes are open, but he’s out.”
Police said the child was taken to Fort Hamilton Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
I was witness to the immediate aftermath of a teenager who shot himself in the head. I cried. Why wouldn’t I? The loss of life was horrible to see, horrible to contemplate. Especially the family’s grief. The endless “what ifs” will plague them until they draw their last breath – just as his unseeing eyes will haunt me until mine.
It was not my first rodeo. I hope it will be my last. More than that, I hope that you will heed these words: do NOT off-body carry.
I know there are members of TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia who will counsel you otherwise, claiming that off-body carry is sometimes an armed American’s only option. It isn’t. I also know that making this declaration will alienate some of TTAG’s advertisers; there is an off-body carry industry catering to those who wish to do so, offering them clever ways to carry concealed.
But I could not sleep at night if I didn’t do what I can to prevent the kind of tragedy described above. Not to mention the fact that a gun carried off-body can be more easily stolen and used for nefarious purposes. If you want to carry a gun, find a way to carry on-body. Inside-the-waistband, outside-the-waistband, pocket carry, appendix carry in a belly-band, ankle holster, garter holster, something. Or nothing.
I believe that teaching children muzzle discipline and respect for firearms is THE best way to protect them against deadly or injurious negligent discharges. But I also believe that off-body carry is inherently dangerous and, equally, unnecessary. So, again, don’t do it. Don’t carry off-body. [h/t John in Ohio]