4-Year-Old Accidentally Kills Father With A Gun A Friend Left Just Lying Around

I’m 43-years-old. I’ve never needed a gun. I don’t keep guns in my house. I’m super paranoid about my kids having playdates at homes where there are guns on the property. I don’t care if you love guns or you own guns or you think guns are the most magical wonderful life-improving invention on the face of the earth, as long as you keep your damn guns locked up. At all times. A four-year-old went with his father, Justin Stanfield Thomas, a 35-year-old who served in the Army Special Forces. The two went to the home of a friend, the young child found a loaded shotgun on the coffee table, and within moments, his father was dead. From AZ Family.com:

“I really can’t believe this happened,” said Jeremy Hartt, a neighbor and friend of everyone involved.  “It’s tragic, that poor little boy.”

Hartt said he didn’t hear the gunshot but saw the aftermath.  He said the friend Thomas was visiting is also a military veteran who keeps a loaded gun for protection.

“Apparently when Justin and his little boy showed up, within minutes, the little boy found the gun and said, ‘hey, daddy, what’s this?’ and it went off,” Hartt said.

“He didn’t know what was going on; he was just a happy little boy,” said Hartt.

I don’t want to hear how the dad should have been paying better attention and this was somehow his fault, because any parent with a small child can tell you that they are amazingly observant and can find things well before a distracted adult can. This poor dad and his poor little boy who is far too little to understand what happened. I don’t GET the need to own a gun. I don’t understand it. But even moreso, I really don’t understand gun owners who leave their firearms lying around out in the open and loaded. And now a dad is dead and a little boy will grow up without a father and probably a lot of guilt over what happened just because this is ‘Mericuh and we love our damn guns.

(Image: AZ Family)