Toddler Shoots Himself With ACSO Deputy's Gun

ANDERSON COUNTY, SC -- A local toddler is dead after he shot himself in the head with a deputy's gun. 

The Greenville News is reporting an Anderson County deputy who lives in the home had left his gun on a bedroom counter before leaving the home to run errands.

Two-year-old Josiah Tate found the gun and was playing with it when it went off, killing him, according to Anderson County Deputy Coroner Don McCown.

The State Law Enforcement Division has been called in to investigate.

According to Kids Health, young children possess the finger strength needed to pull the trigger on a firearm.

Kids Health recommends that guns be kept locked and unloaded, and the ammunition should be stored separately. 

Hiding a gun is not enough. Guns and ammo both should be locked away.

Store the keys for the gun and the ammunition in a different area from where you store household keys. Keep the keys out of reach of children. 

Lock up gun-cleaning supplies, which are often poisonous.

When handling or cleaning a gun, adults should never leave the gun unattended.

According to the National Rifle Association, teach your kids to follow these rules if they come into contact with a gun: 

1) stop

2) don't touch

3) remove yourself from the area. 

4) tell an adult

More than a third (35%) of homes with children—that's 22 million children ages 18 and under in more than 11 million homes—had at least one firearm, found researchers in a RAND-UCLA study.

But only 39 percent of these families keep their firearms locked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Forty-three percent of these U.S. homes with children and guns reported keeping one or more firearms in an unlocked place and without a trigger lock. Nine percent keep their guns loaded as well as unlocked.