Investigators say a three-year-old boy is in critical condition after he accidentally shot himself in north Harris County.

The Harris County Pct. 4 Constable’s Office says it happened while the grandparents were babysitting the boy at their home in the 19000 block of Puget Lane.

“From what we understand, he was shot in the face and there was an exit point. So this three-year-old for sure, needs our thoughts and prayers,” says Precinct Four Constable Mark Herman.

Precinct Four Constables responded to the scene, and when they saw how bad it was they called in the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. LifeFlight took the little boy to Memorial Hermann. We’re told he in critical condition.

“They were moving him up to Pediatric ICU. It may be a day or two before we know exactly what the status is,” says Sgt. Ben Beall.

Source: Boy, 3, accidentally shoots self in the face in north Harris County | abc13.com

Secure your guns. We can’t say this enough. Kids get into EVERYTHING! If you need a readily dischargeable firearm in the home, it should be on your body, in a holster! Not laying on a night stand. Under your pillow. In a drawer. And certainly not anywhere a 3-year-old might stumble across it.

Several hundred times a year, incidents like this happen across the county. While a child is far more likely to drown in a pool or bathtub, that does not mean we as gun owners shouldn’t be proactive. There are any number of electronic or mechanical lock boxes available that allow fast access to a gun if needed. You can station these around your home so there’s a gun in every room if you choose. How expensive are they? Far cheaper than the price this family is paying for not using one or some other method of securing the gun.

And if the tragedy doesn’t provide enough persuasion, there’s a criminal aspect. It is a crime in Texas to leave a readily dischargeable firearm accessible to a child. It’s a class C misdemeanor and becomes a class A misdemeanor if the child injures or kills himself or another person. A responding officer said the law can’t punishment these folks any worse than what they will do to themselves but, that doesn’t mean they won’t be prosecuted.

-GM

As some of you may know, I follow a video blog call “Smarter Every Day.” It is run by Destin Sandlin, a missile engineer from Alabama. He rose to Internet fame because of his YouTube Channel where explores the science behind just about everything. He also occasionally makes pretty cool “trivia” posts like the one below. Sure enough, one Bastian Salbert immediately expressed his disappointment, saying, he expected the the missile engineer to be “more reflective about that topic or at least not posting that stuff.” All that said, Sandlin’s response is perfect.