JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A shocking video shows a toddler playing with a loaded gun.
It happened in Indiana over the weekend.
The boy’s father was arrested Saturday after the video aired on a TV show called On Patrol Live.
The father is now facing a child neglect charge. Shane Osborne “explained that he had been ill all day and did not know (the toddler had) left the apartment,” an officer said in a probable cause affidavit, CNN reported.
In the video, the child can be seen pulling the trigger and even pointing the gun at himself.
News4JAX spoke with a firearms expert who said that’s a sign the child has held a gun before.
“When I see that, that makes me cringe,” gun safety expert Rod Mills said.
Mills is a gun safety expert who said the situation isn’t uncommon and could’ve been avoided.
“The fact that the parent failed in being a safe parent, by keeping their child away from the gun and not maybe teaching the gun, the child gun safety rules,” Mills said.
Earlier this month, a 6-year-old boy shot a teacher in Virginia. The boy’s mother could face charges.
Locally, a trial has just been postponed for a mother charged with aggravated manslaughter after her daughter was accidentally killed when she handed the gun to her mother.
News4JAX has covered five other accidental child deaths from 2019 to 2022.
In 2019, a 2-year-old shot himself in the head and his mom was sentenced to seven years in prison for negligence.
In 2020, another 2-year-old was killed by an accidental gunshot wound but no one was charged.
There were two in 2021, both of them were 6 years old, and someone was charged with negligence in one of them but not the other.
Then in 2022, a 3-year-old boy killed himself with a gun found in his house. Someone there was charged with negligence.
The gun in Indiana was found at the scene with 15 rounds in the magazine, none in the chamber.
Thankfully, the 4-year-old is OK.
The child’s father is also a felon and there is a chance he could face more charges.
The gun safety expert said if parents aren’t going to keep their guns stored away or use the free gun locks available, they need to explain to children the seriousness of the guns and how to be safe around them.