2-year-old finds dad's gun, shoots himself in the mouth

A 2-year-old Randolph County, North Carolina boy is in stable condition after unintentionally shooting himself in the mouth. Police are calling it a miracle that the boy survived and was not more seriously injured.
The toddler was home with his parents, Jose Palencia and Agelica Rameriez, when he found his father's improperly locked .45-caliber handgun in his parents' bedroom. According to reports, the boy put the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. The bullet broke a mandible bone in his jaw but luckily missed vital blood vessels and the spinal column.
The sheriff's office has indicated that charges will be filed against one or both of the parents. Storing an unsecured firearm in a place where minors can access it is a misdemeanor in North Carolina with punishment ranging from probation to jail time.

Woman playing golf hit by stray bullet

70-year-old Jane Pendergast was on the fifth hole of the Ocean Forest golf course in Sea Island, Georgia when she was hit by a stray bullet.
65-year-old Edward Johnson was shooting at squirrels on the course with his .22-caliber rifle when he unintentionally shot Pendergast.
Pendergast was shot in the abdomen. She was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition following surgery.
Johnson was been arrested and charged with reckless conduct.

Woman unintentionally shoots and kills herself while showing off her new assault rifle

22-year-old Anastasia Adair, of Federal Heights, Colorado, is described in one news report as a "new gun enthusiast." Anastasia was with her husband and some friends in the garage when she went upstairs to get her recently purchased assault rifle to show to her friends.
As she was walking back down the stairs into the garage she reached to hand the rifle to her husband, Shane, when the gun unintentionally discharged.
Anastasia was shot in the head. She was taken to the local hospital where she was pronounced dead.
According to police, the couple had been firing the rifle the day before and Shane told investigators the gun had a light trigger pull. The police did not identify the specific model but said it was an AK-47 type rifle.

Father showing off handguns unintentionally shoots 13-month-old daughter

26-year-old Kevin Sayre, of Tullahoma, Tennessee, was showing how parts of one handgun were interchangeable with the other one when he unintentionally discharged a handgun. The 9mm bullet struck his 13-month-old daughter, Prissy, in the chest.
The child was taken to the local hospital and later airlifted to the Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt.  She is listed in stable, but critical condition.
Sayre has been arrested several times since his first arrest in 2006 for driving with a suspended license.  However, none of the offenses were enough to prohibit him from possessing firearms.
According to his Facebook page his political view is "AK-47 Justice."
Sayre has been charged with aggravated assault in the shooting of his daughter. "It's our contention that it was reckless that he was even performing those steps with the child present," said a police spokesperson.

Gun discharges when woman drops purse, shoots friend in the leg

51-year-old Pamela Beck, of Pinellas Park, Florida was at a Starbucks in a mall in St. Petersburg with her friend, 38-year-old Amie Peterson. When Beck put her purse down to pay for her coffee a loaded handgun in her purse discharged. The bullet from the .25-caliber semi-automatic handgun struck Peterson above the knee.
Peterson was treated and released at a nearby trauma center.
Beck told police that she forgot she had the gun in her purse and that she did not have a concealed weapons permit for the gun. She said her father had given her the gun about a year ago.
In December, 2011, a gun discharged in a Starbucks in Cheyenne, Wyoming when a 17-year-old girl dropped her purse and the .38 special Derringer pistol inside discharged. No one was injured in that incident. The girl's father had given her the gun for protection. And in February, 2012 a gun discharged in a mall in South Carolina when a woman put her purse down and the gun inside fired. The bullet hit the woman's friend in the leg.
Guns are the only consumer product manufactured in American not regulated by a federal agency for health and safety. These guns that discharge when bumped clearly have a design flaw yet the Consumer Product Safety Commission has no authority to issue a recall on any gun.

Obama OFA Staffer Caught in the Crossfire of Someone Else's Gunfight

28-year-old Gregory Jackson is the Southern region director for Organizing for Action, the post-election form of President Obama's grassroots campaign organization. Jackson's job is to build up community support for gun violence prevention legislation in the South region of the U.S.
On April 21st, Jackson was in Washington, D.C. attending his cousin's bachelor party. As he and four others left the party they came upon two men shouting at one another. They walked in the other direction to avoid the fight. But the fight escalated and someone starting shooting.
"Like anybody, we ran," said Jackson. "But as we ran, I caught one of the stray bullets into my right calf."
Jackson has had five surgeries since being shot. He was released from the hospital briefly but had to be sent right back when two blood clots formed in his leg. He has another surgery scheduled.
"It will be another couple weeks, if not months, before I can get fully back to work," he said.
"This traumatic experience brought home how critical it is that our country's representatives take action to prevent these incidents from happening in the future," Jackson added.

Trio of unintentional shootings involving children in Texas in the past week

Last Wednesday, 2-year-old Kinzler Davis, of Corsicana, Texas found a loaded, unlocked handgun in a bedroom in his house and unintentionally shot himself in the head. The boy was flown to the Children's Hospital in Dallas but died of his injuries later that night.
According to police reports, the boy's father was in a walk-in closet in the bedroom at the time of the shooting. The district attorney's office will determine if any charges will be filed. However, under Texas law while a person can be held criminally liable for failing to secure a firearm, if the negligent person is a member of the family of the child who discharged the firearm, and the child was killed, an arrest cannot be made until seven days after the offense was committed.
On Saturday, 5-year-old Jason Haley and another boy, 8, were alone in a bedroom in a house in Denton, Texas when the older boy found a loaded, unlocked .22-caliber rifle. The boy picked up the rifle, pointed it at Jason and fired the gun. Jason was shot in the head. He was taken to the Children's Hospital in Dallas and died of his injuries Monday afternoon. Jason's grandparents were in the house at the time of the shooting, but his parents were at work.
Also on Saturday, a 6-year-old boy from Amarillo, Texas, was at a relative's house when he found a loaded, unlocked handgun that had been "hidden" by the homeowner and unintentionally shot himself in the abdomen. The boy was flow to Lubbock for treatment and is expected to survive. He is currently listed in stable condition. Police reminded the public that children are naturally curious and hiding a weapon out of reach is not the same as gun locks and gun safes.

Gun store owner unintentionally shoots himself

82-year-old Robert Buchanan owns Pioneer Gun Shop in Juniata, Pennsylvania. He was working on a rifle, which was not feeding rounds properly, when he unintentionally discharged the weapon.
The 7.62 by 39 mm round struck Buchanan in the torso. He was taken to the hospital where his injury required surgery.
Some people familiar with Buchanan were surprised to hear of the shooting because of his reputation for knowing guns and how they should be handled.
While Buchanan's condition hasn't been released, a sign on the door of Pioneer Gun Shop says that Buchanan will be okay and back at the store in the future.

Two injured in unintentional shooting at gun show in Idaho

Police are still investigating an unintentional shooting that happened Saturday at the Fort Boise Gun Show at Expo Idaho.
According to police, they received a call just before 3 p.m. that a gun was fired inside the exhibit hall. Apparently, a person attending the show picked up a gun that was on display and didn't realize there was a round left in the chamber. The gun discharged when the man pulled the trigger.
The bullet hit two other guns and sent shrapnel flying that hit two bystanders. One person was hit in the arm and treated at the scene. A 23-year-old man was hit in the eye and taken to the hospital for treatment for a serious eye injury.

Man goes to threaten wife with gun, unintentionally shoots himself instead

60-year-old Randall Lovett, of Columbia, Tennessee was arguing with his wife, Sarena. According to the sheriff's report:

Mr. Lovett sat on the couch so Mrs. Lovett stood in front of him and leaned over toward him while they continued to argue.
Mrs. Lovett says that Mr. Lovett reached across his body with his right hand and stuck it down into an armrest on his left side. As he was pulling his hand out of the armrest, Mrs. Lovett saw the gun and it immediately discharged into his left knee."
Mr.s Lovett said that she thought he was pulling the weapon to 'kill' her because of a long history of domestic violence in their marriage. She adds that in November of 2012, Mr. Lovett shot through a den wall and living room wall before sticking a gun to her head."

In addition to the .38-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun that Lovett shot himself with, police also removed a Taurus .38-caliber handgun, two .22-caliber rifles and ammunition for all the firearms.
Lovett was taken to the hospital for treatment and then arrested and charged with aggravated assault.