The Washington Post has documented 23 shootings so far this year in which toddlers found or grabbed firearms and pulled the trigger.
Since January 2015, Georgia has led all states in what the Post called "toddler-involved shootings" with eight. That puts our state ahead of Texas and Missouri, which both had seven shootings by toddler during that period, and Florida and Michigan, which both had six, the Post said on its Wonkblog online.
The report points out that toddlers with guns usually shoot themselves, but there were examples in which they shot others.
Just this week, a 2-year-old in Milwaukee picked up a .40-caliber pistol that had slid out from under the front seat and fatally shot his mother as she drove. She was 26. The Guardian reported that the vehicle and the weapon belonged to the woman's boyfriend, who is a security guard. The toddler was in the back seat and apparently was not in a child carrier, the Guardian said.
Just seven days ago, a 3-year-old in Paulding County fatally shot himself in the chest with his father's pistol, authorities said. Holston Cole's injury was consistent with an accidental and self-inflicted bullet wound, an autopsy found.
Colston's death was the second time in about six months a child in Paulding was unintentionally shot to death.
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