Child accidentally shot by friend in Abkhazia

An eight-year-old boy was accidentally shot by his friend with a carbine in Huap village, Abkhazia. The children were left alone at home and found the weapon while playing. They did not know that it was loaded.

“The parents of both boys were in a neighboring village for a funeral. One of the boys’ grandmothers was at home, though she herself needs supervision. Immediately after the shot was fired, the boy who discharged the firearm ran to the neighbors to call for help,” says the director of the local school, Svetlana Khashig.

However, the boy who was shot did not survive.

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Law enforcement authorities currently consider the incident to have been an accident.

Meanwhile, a new wave of protest has risen in society – not only against the negligence of parents, but also against the lax gun safety requirements regarding weapon storage at home.

Typical comments:

“Two boys are left unattended for the whole day in a house where there is a weapon, with no safe in which the weapon could safely be stored! At least take the bullets out and store them in a safe place.”

“Why is the weapon not locked away, but instead easily accessible and still loaded?”

“Someone here recently called for arming the people. Our people, save for the slingshot, are not capable of using such things responsibly. How can a carbine with cartridges be kept in a house where a child can use it freely? It’s not necessary to arm, but to disarm.”

“If I drank, got behind the wheel and killed someone, then I broke the rules of the road and killed someone. If I forgot to safely store a weapon then I also killed. Regardless of how trivial the cause is, it is still our lives.”

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