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.