The media went absolutely ape shit over the story that Jamie Gilt was accidentally shot by her 4-year old son, who retrieved the firearm off the floor of the vehicle and shot mom with it. My guess is she put the firearm under the seat and it slid back to where the kid could get it. The lessons here are pretty obvious:
- The best place for a gun is strapped on your person in a quality holster that offers good trigger protection.
- Guns belong in holsters, always, even if you’re carrying off body (a less than ideal solution to begin with). Triggers must be protected from external manipulation. My guns never leave their holsters unless they are being fired, cleaned, or stored unloaded for a protracted period of time (which never happens).
- If you’re going to do vehicle carry, in a locked container within the car (and in a holster) is more prudent than tossing it under a seat. I’ve also seen ways to mount holsters to a vehicle that provides a reasonable degree of control while the driver is in the driver’s seat.
- Carrying a firearm regularly is a serious commitment. If you’re not really willing to be serious about it, you’re probably better off leaving it secured at home. Tossing a gun under a seat when you have kids in the car is not being serious about the responsibilities that go with carrying a deadly weapon.
- Teach your kids not to touch guns. They should understand firearms are very dangerous. Kids of a certain age don’t always listen, so that’s why we do the previous things I’ve mentioned.
Of course, apparently the media has decided if you post a few pro-Second Amendment Facebook posts that means you’re a “gun activist.” I believe this is deliberate on the part of the media, because the implication is that if even the die-hards can’t carry firearms safely, what makes you ordinary folk can do it safely? This is certainly bringing out the worst of the media.
It’s also bringing out the worst of the anti-gun folks.
No less than three fake facebook pages have been created to do nothing but shame this woman. The comments left on her page and the fake pages are the most inhuman and vile I’ve seen in a very long time.
We claim to be tolerant and inclusive, but people are calling for her sterilization, her child to be taken from her and saying that it’s only too bad that she was not outright killed […]
It’s amazing how violent supposed non-violent people can be when they smell blood in the water.
Funny how that seems to work, isn’t it. In truth there’s plenty of nastiness to go around any public issue, but the claims of peace loving very often ring hollow.
Ms. Lauer seems to offer some other useful advice on carrying with kids.
I also wonder if we’re seeing something akin to the “female trophy hunter” effect.
Reverse the gender of the parent. Have Jamie be male. Would there be the same level of intensity by the antis?
They have openly stated that they want to socially shame gun owners and use social pressure to keep people from getting guns.
They also would be aware of the shifts in gun ownership demographics via Gun Culture 2.0.
Or am I reading too much into things?
No, you’re not reading too much into it. Social media trolls are mostly, if not entirely, made up of cowards. They probably think a woman makes an easier target for their attacks. The ways they attack women who arm themselves after victimization shows they are also quite sexist.
I used to carry a .44mag in a holster mounted to the bottom of the stearing column when driving, then remove it to my belt mounted holster when leaving the vehicle. Not the most ideal carry piece but it did it’s job during a carjack attempt. The purp saw the barrel and cylinder and turned tail and ran.
This shaming that is going on is the same crap that you see the liberal types pulling whenever a conservative tries to have a rally or a speech. Time to fight back and take our country back.
“Guns belong in holsters, always..”
This. Always holstered unless I’m doing maintenance, or shooting. If not unholstered during shooting, it’s cleared in a safe area. Loaded pistols with no trigger covering is a supremely bad idea.
Look at how just one careless person turns up the heat on millions of others doing the right thing. Again, following Jeff Cooper’s four safety rules would have stopped this tragedy.
Is there any chance that the pistol was not hers but of the spouse that left it there?
Also, currently being responsible for a 4 year old who is strapped into a car seat of a GT model Elantra, i.e., a car where the back seat gets as low as you can go without buying that 4 door Porsche, I just don’t see how those toddler arms can reach down and pick up a pistol when strapped in. If indeed this happened when she was driving.
Yeah, I don’t get that either.
That was my thought as well. Along with asking why the weapon wasn’t secured, we need to ask why the child wasn’t secured.
I find it amazing that people think taking a gun out of a holster when in a vehicle is a valid technique for any purpose.
Nothing unsecured in a car is going to be immediately accessible after a minor fender-bender, or similar bumpy activity. Even a hard stop, or radical maneuvering, sends cell phones traveling. You think a gun won’t do the same?
For some idiotic reason, people, including LEO’s, will unholster a gun and set it on the seat, or tuck it under a leg, if they think they might need it soon. Really dumb.