South Carolina aunt: toddler shooting gun ‘could have happened to anyone’

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/13/south-carolina-aunt-toddler-shooting-gun-grandmother

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A South Carolina woman whose pistol accidentally went off in her car while her two-year-old great-nephew was playing with it, hitting the child’s grandmother in the back, has told an interviewer the situation “looks crazy on the outside”.

According to a police report, the child picked the gun out of a pouch behind the passenger seat and accidentally fired while playing with it.

“He’s infatuated with guns,” the gun owner told WCNC in an interview on Tuesday. “I didn’t know that. I wasn’t thinking.”

She added: “Possibly, before anyone gets in a car, ask them if they have a gun.”

The .357 Magnum revolver – which does not have a safety catch – was kept in a pouch behind the front passenger seat of the car, according to WCNC, an NBC affiliate. The owner has not been named, but was the sister of the child’s grandmother, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.

The child and his grandmother were being given a lift in the Chevrolet Camaro. None of the individuals involved have been named, and the grandmother’s injuries are reportedly not life-threatening.

“Shock is not the word. Beyond shock,” the gun owner said, in an interview which disguised her identity. “That sound was so muffled. It sounded like a firecracker happened outside.”

She defended herself, saying: “This mistake could have happened to anyone.”

“I own a gun, I live by myself, I travel a lot on the road by myself,” the gun owner said. “I’m pretty much vulnerable, so that’s why I always have my weapon accessible.

“People are asking: ‘Why did she have a gun in this place?’ I don’t carry children. I drive a two-door car. I don’t have people in my backseat, ever.”

“He thought that he was playing,” she said. “But guns kill.”

Rock Hill police told the Guardian their investigation into the incident was ongoing, and it was yet to be determined if any charges would be brought. WCNC reported the involvement of child services.

“What happened was serious,” the gun owner said. “My sister could have died. I could be in prison now, a college graduate with a degree in social work, getting my license in January. I could have been in prison now with everything lost behind me.”

She told the interviewer that from now on she would keep the weapon locked in the dashboard or the trunk of the car, as the law requires.