Guns For Self-Protection: What Else Is A Toddler To Do?

AP via TPM:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A 3-year-old boy found a handgun in his mother's purse and fired just one shot that wounded both his parents at an Albuquerque motel on Saturday, police said.

According to investigators, the toddler apparently reached for an iPod but found the loaded weapon. Police believe the shooting to be accidental.

The bullet first struck his father in the buttock and then hit the right shoulder of his mother, who is eight months pregnant, police said. His 2-year-old sister was present but unhurt.

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An N​R​A official who spontaneously materialized in an Albuquerque newspaper office milliseconds after police secured the scene of the incident was NOT reported to have asked, "If the mother's handgun had not been accessible, loaded and unlocked, how would the child have protected himself against not one but both parents?"

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Also for your edification, take a look at the state of Georgia's open-carry law, less than a year old now:

Text: Firearms dealers no longer regulated by GA. Dept. of Public Safety / Elimination of fingerprinting for renewing weapons carry licenses — Non-security personnel permitted to carry guns in K-12 schools / Allows silencers for hunting, putting bystanders & other hunters at risk — Allows firearms in public housing / Regulation of firearms and other weapons by General Assembly only, no more local control

You think maybe Georgia has taken things a bit too far?

(Regular readers know I'm neither a gun nut nor an anti-gun nut; I just hate to see avoidable violence within a family. Unsecured guns and very young children don't mix well at all, no matter which parties end up getting hurt. If you can't take the post in a rational spirit and comment accordingly, don't bother commenting at all, or I'll just have to delete your comment.)