Consequences can be dire when parents leave their firearms unattended. It’s hard to believe that parents lock up their sink cabinets to prevent kids from drinking Drano, but leave their loaded firearms in places where kids can find them.
In a tragic accident, a three-year-old boy found an unsecured gun, and fired it accidentally, killing his mom, Cora Lyn Bush, a resident of South Carolina. She died in a hospital in Spartanburg.
Spartanburg deputies reported that they responded to a call at the home at 7:45 am on Wednesday. Upon arrival, they discovered the deceased Cora Bush, her three-year-old son, and Cora’s mother, in the house.
Bush’s mother told the police what had happened. In a statement, the police said that her account of the shooting matched the evidence found in the house and the victim’s injuries.
The police statement says that although the police investigation remains active, everything points to the story that the child gained access to the unsecured firearm, which unfortunately led to the mother being accidentally shot and later dying in the hospital.
An American research organization, Every Town Research, that investigates gun violence, presented recent data showing that there were 194 accidental shootings by children in the US in 2022 alone. Eighty-two people died from accidental shootings, and123 others were injured.
In their analysis, they confirmed that every year, hundreds of children find firearms in the US and accidentally shoot themselves or someone else.
The statistics are alarming.
The organization collects information and data from news reports about minors who unintentionally fire a gun and harm themselves or someone else. They collect information about the ages of the shooter and victim, type of firearm, location of the incident, and the date it happened.
The organization’s goal is to raise awareness about gun violence affecting minors and to help prevent unintentional shootings by children, which are devastating not only to the victims, but to the children themselves.
The “Be Smart” campaign was launched by Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense to raise awareness of safe gun storage. They reach try to teach people how to save lives by storing their guns unloaded and locked, and keeping the ammunition separate.
Data collected from 2015 to 2022 shows that there were 2,070 accidental shootings by children and 765 people lost their lives. The number of shootings was alarming in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From March to December 2020, almost 400 kids unintentionally fired guns, and at least 125 children aged five and below found loaded guns and shot themselves or others.