[NV] Las Vegas police family (gun enthusiasts) justify unsecured weapons even AFTER their 2-year old shoots himself

 ...His wife [Shawnee Bledsoe] said the boys are taught "not to touch guns"...

Las Vegas Police Officer Jared Bledsoe's 2 year old shot himself on February 6th, and just this past Monday his condition was lifted from critical. A month of avoidable intense misery. This family's love of, and full trust in, their weapons evidently outweighed any parental instincts. This isn't even an accident like most kid shootings. This was pure endangerment. I am glad to see that the outcome for this officer is that he will no longer be an officer - one way or another he loses his job. Maybe people who are as deliberately careless with their home arsenals as this couple will see these consequences and rethink their gun safety plan.

...[Las Vegas Police Officer] Jared Bledsoe told detectives that he batted the gun off his son's chest and began applying pressure to the boy's abdomen. The bullet had gone into the boy's abdomen, through his small bowel, liver, transverse colon, diaphragm, lung and arm, according to the warrant... When police searched the bedroom, they found several other weapons, including another unsecured, loaded handgun... The charge will cost Bledsoe his job with the department...

Previous post HERE

VEGAS OFFICER, WIFE CHARGED AFTER SON SHOOTS SELF
A Las Vegas police officer and his wife have been charged after their 2-year-old son shot himself with his father's service weapon.
Associated Press
news@kolotv.com
Mar 3, 2010
A Las Vegas police officer and his wife have been charged after their 2-year-old son shot himself with his father's service weapon. Jared Bledsoe and Shawnee Bledsoe, both 27, each face a count of child endangerment with substantial bodily harm. The couple allegedly left their youngest son in a room where a loaded handgun was stored in a night stand. A warrant released by the Clark County district attorney's office says police deemed that unsafe. About a half-hour after putting the boy to bed a gunshot rang out. The boy's parents ran to the room to find their wounded son on his back and the night stand drawer open. The bullet went through the child's abdomen, lung and arm. He is in stable condition at a hospital. [LINK]

CHILD ENDANGERMENT: OFFICER, WIFE TO FACE CHARGES IN CHILD'S SELF-INFLICTED SHOOTING
2-year-old son shot himself with father's service weapon
Las Vegas Review-Journal
By Lawrence Mower
Mar. 01, 2010
[Excerpts] A Las Vegas police officer and his wife are facing felony charges after their 2-year-old son shot himself last month with his father's service weapon. Jared Bledsoe and Shawnee Bledsoe, both 27, each face one count of child endangerment with substantial bodily harm... "We believe that parents that have loaded firearms in their homes should secure them," Clark County District Attorney David Roger said. State law requires parents to securely store their firearms... Jared Bledsoe told detectives that he batted the gun off his son's chest and began applying pressure to the boy's abdomen. The bullet had gone into the boy's abdomen, through his small bowel, liver, transverse colon, diaphragm, lung and arm, according to the warrant... In interviews with investigators, the Bledsoes expressed a need to have guns in the house for protection. Shawnee Bledsoe, who told police that her older sister was murdered at a young age, said she sometimes keeps a gun under her pillow at night when her husband is at work. But they did not take precautions to lock or secure some of their weapons... Jared Bledsoe said he chose the Wilson handgun because it was safer than other firearms; it required the user to manipulate two safeties, instead of one, before firing. He said he didn't believe his son would be able to fire it. The gun was usually left in the nightstand, which he kept closed. He did not know whether his 2-year-old and 4-year-old sons knew it was there, but "they're not to get into dad's things anyway," he told police, according to the warrant. His wife said the boys are taught "not to touch guns." When police searched the bedroom, they found several other weapons, including another unsecured, loaded handgun in a green utility bag on the floor of the closet... "Close to what they said was ... the safest place for a gun to be is locked up," he said. "But we also need to be able to be prepared." He added: "They never said one way or another ... what's the wrong or right way... The charge will cost Bledsoe his job with the department. Because he joined just last year, he was under the Metropolitan Police Department's probationary period while he underwent field training... Now that he has been charged with a felony, he will be either terminated or ruled "nonconfirmed," meaning he did not pass his field training and will be let go... [Full article here]
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