Last month, a woman was shot dead by her own child, after the two-year-old found a handgun while sitting in the back seat of the car they were in. Although the case sparked outrage, this isn’t the first time that such an incident was reported.

• Seven cases of children between ages one and three shooting themselves or someone else, have been reported since April 20 alone.
• Last year, people were shot dead by toddlers at a rate of at least one every week, and this went up this year. This year 23 people have been killed in this manner between January and April, as opposed to 18 deaths last year, Washington Post reported.
• As the gun control debate rages on in America, 18 out of 23 cases of gun violence involving toddlers this year, were instances where toddlers ended up shooting themselves.

• Apart from toddlers, there have been 77 cases this year, in which children younger than 18 have shot people accidentally.
• In 2015, 13 toddlers had accidentally killed themselves, 18 hurt themselves, 10 injured others and two toddlers killed others with firearms.
• In March 2016, a gun rights advocate in US was shot dead by her four-year-old, after she left her .45 calibre handgun in the back seat of her car, The Guardian reported.

• On April 20, a 2-year-old boy in Indiana found the gun his mother left on the kitchen counter and shot himself.
• On May 2, a 15-year-old boy unintentionally discharged a revolver that he had in his back pocket, hitting himself in the leg and hand. He was taken to a hospital and treated for serious injuries, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Feature image source: AFP