3-year old Missouri boy finds father's new gun and shoots himself to death

Joshua "J.J." Turner, Jr., age 3

A 3-year old boy, Joshua "J.J." Turner, Jr., found his father's new gun stuffed in the cushions of the family sofa, in Independence, Missouri.  The gun was loaded. The parents heard a pop and returned to find him dead from a gunshot wound.

From a post at the Ohh Shoot blog, with links to news footage of the parents:

J.J.'s father said he had just purchased the handgun but didn't have a holster to store it in so he stuffed the loaded, unlocked gun into the couch as he sat with his family watching a movie. Both he and his wife had left the room when they heard a pop and returned to find that J.J. had found the gun and shot himself. J.J. died at the scene.

The parents say they have other guns in the house, that J.J. was used to seeing guns and had played with water pistols so knew where the trigger was. They say they have the guns in the house for protection and the father told the reporter he always has one gun "loaded, ready to use at any given moment."

Dawn, J.J.'s mother, says she doesn't want any guns in her house ever again. She says she doesn't want J.J.'s brother to suffer the same fate.

(a related article)

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.