Young boy in critical condition after a pellet gun shooting

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=8721246

At a family gathering, an older relative left a couple of pellet guns out. One toddler shot one at another and placed him in critical condition.

This is a reminder that even though it's a pellet gun, they are still very dangerous and still need to be treated like it was a real firearm. If your kid has a pellet gun, I do hope that you taught them the 4 rules. If you haven't taught them, do it.

Best wishes for the family.

 

[paintballdude902]

every few years i hear about a kid dying from one and i just remember the time a "friend" shot me with one.... its been many years and along the way i learned what friend means

 

[M7]

Reading about something as preventable as this just makes my heart break. I sure hope that the little one pulls through.

 

[MedWheeler]

After a feud that occurred off-campus while I was in high school, one of our students shot another that had left and then returned to the house at which the argument had taken place. The victim was shot once in the chest with an air rifle, and died a short time later.

Guns are guns, people, regardless of by what means they expel their projectiles.

 

[TurtlePhish]

Guns are guns, people, regardless by what means they expel their projectiles.

+1

Anyone ever see those .30-.50 caliber air rifles? People take deer with those. If it can kill a deer, it can kill a human. Even if it's not a "firearm".

 

[ljnowell]

My Snap-On dealer lost his son in a horrible accident involving a BB gun. His two boys were playing, shooting soda cans out thier bedroom window. The younger one went out to jump up in the window and scare his brother. His timing was horribly wrong and the bb went in his eye socket, right in the corner of his eye. He died a few days later in the Childrens Hospital. Great guy, a great family, torn apart by a single instance. Sad.

 

[MachIVshooter]

The "older relative" must've left the thing ready to rock; There's simply no way a toddler could prep a pellet gun for firing............unless "toddler" is used as loosly by this reporting agency as the anti's use "child", and the kid was really 5 or 6 years old.

IMO, infant= < 1 YO, Toddler= 1-3 YO, preschooler= 4 & 5 YO.

 

[gatorjames85]

You don't want to get hit by anything going 1,000 fps.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Wow! And to think, when we were 12 or 13 we used to have BB gun wars. It's a miracle none of us were seriously injured. :banghead:

 

[Slamfire]

My older cartridges of the world had a section in the back. It was the story of a kid, shot in the chest with an air gun, and the kid died.


My RWS airgun will blew completely through the sides of a squirrel. Don't see why it won't get inside the rib cage of a kid.

 

[TurtlePhish]

Wow! And to think, when we were 12 or 13 we used to have BB gun wars. It's a miracle none of us were seriously injured.

A lot of pellet rifles (especially the ones made for hunting/varminting) are FAR more powerful than your average BB gun. Some approach .22lr power levels. That said, some BB guns still pack quite a punch, especially multi-pumps.

 

[foghornl]

I don't remember the details now; about 4 or 5 years ago a youngster was killed by another with a cheap BB gun...IIRC, the BB went into the child's back & punctured a lung.

 

[hemiram]

I've carried around a BB under my nose for almost 44 years now. Freaked the new dentist out, big time. I heard him say, "OMG, what is that?", and I started laughing. My best friend was goofing around with his Crosman 760 and pumped it a couple of times, pointed it at me, and yelled, "FREEZE PUNK!". I told him, "Don't mess around, with my luck you'll shoot me!". He pulled the trigger, and I grabbed my face. He said, "Oh don't be so dramatic!", and then he saw all the blood. It bled all night, and we made up a story about me walking into a dresser that was exactly the right height. We would have gotten away with it, but a year later, I got my nose broken and they took an R-ray and the doctor walks in with it, and says, "How long you had that BB in your face?". Busted.

 

[duns]

My brother had a lucky escape when he was 7. A 7-year old friend of his was shooting an air rifle. My mother sent me to call my brother that his dinner was ready. He ran across the line of fire. The pellet traveled through the flesh of his forehead, parallel to the bone, and just above the eyebrows. Not serious but could have been catastrophic had the pellet taken a slightly different path. My mother complained to the police and I believe the rifle was confiscated. This was in the UK in the 1950s.

 

[Mulk]

Talking with some friends that are still helping with Scouting I get the impression that lot of parents think bb or pellet rifle as being the Red Rider from that Christmas Story movie.

I won't waste more of your time, but look at the Crosman used for hog hunting apparently and some of the stuff like the Crosman 1077 I grew up with that is a 12 round semi auto mag fed rifle from the 90's.

Technology progressed, but apparently the concept of safety, or perceived threat is behind the times?

 

[DefiantDad]

A guy was in the local sports store looking around and was just about to buy a high powered air rifle for his "kid" and I said, Excuse me, I'm not sure if you know these air guns are used for hunting. He said he didn't know, and looked a bit shaken. I said I heard you say you were buying it for your kid. These guns can kill. So, just want to be sure you know that. He thanked me and said he had no idea. He thought they were toys because they put the high powered pellet guns right next to the airsoft plastic guns (not that airsoft is completely safe but they are for "games" and not hunting).

 

[303tom]

It`s a damn tragedy is what it is, I know some ADULTS that should have their freaking heads examined...........

 

[Midwest]

Pellet guns are classified as a firearm in some states, NJ is one of them and they require a Firearms ID card to buy one. If the air gun is a pistol air gun, a hand gun 'permit to purchase' is required there.