Jamie Gilt: Charges Filed Against Pro-Gun Activist Mom For Son Accidentally Shooting Her
Jamie Gilt, the pro-gun activist who was accidentally shot and wounded by her 4-year-old son, is set to be legally charged for the incident that took place earlier this month.
According to CNN, authorities say Gilt is expected to face a misdemeanor charge of allowing a minor access to a firearm.
Gilt, 31, was hospitalized after the toddler shot her from the back seat of a car while she was sitting in front at the driver’s seat.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office filed an affidavit with local prosecutors on Tuesday requesting that Gilt be charged with the second-degree misdemeanor, which can mean up to 180 days in jail.
#CLTV Gun Activist Shot By Her 4-Year-Old To Face Charges – (CNN) Jamie Gilt, the Florida pro-gun activist who… https://t.co/NcCVJvVKbR
— Crooks and Liars (@crooksandliars) March 22, 2016
Capt. Gator DeLoach says that the sheriff’s office supports the Second Amendment, but gun owners have the “additional responsibility of ensuring children do not gain unintended access to a firearm in hopes of preventing tragedies like this.”
The firearm that Jamie Gilt was shot with was legally owned her. She has a Facebook page titled “Jamie Gilt for Gun Sense,” where she frequently posts her position as a pro-gun activist.
As Florida law states, it’s a misdemeanor for a person to store or leave a loaded firearm in such a manner that a child could reach it.
Gilt was shot by her toddler son on March 9 when a Putnam County sheriff’s deputy was on patrol. The deputy spotted a truck parked uneven in lanes of traffic and a woman in the driver’s seat motioning for help. Her son was the only other person in the truck with her.
Officials say that Gilt had placed the unholstered gun under the front seat of the vehicle. The gun slid out when the toddler snapped it up before accidentally firing it. It was perceived that Gilt’s son thought the gun was a toy when he unbuckled his bolster seat to get it.
Child welfare officials were investigating the incident as well, according to authorities.
Shooting victim’s day just got worse: GUN lover Jamie Gilt probably thought things could only improve after she was… https://t.co/JiuIUcWVUW
— Voucher Code (AU) (@AdriannaGoergen) March 23, 2016
Gilt once wrote this about her son on her Facebook page: “Even my 4 year old gets jacked up to target shoot with the.22.”
Officials told The Florida Times-Union that the child fired a.45-caliber handgun that he found on the truck’s floor into the driver’s seat.
“She was shot through the seat and the round went through her back,” Sheriff’s Capt. Joseph Wells said. “There was a booster seat in the back of the vehicle, but, however, the boy was not strapped in when the deputy got to them.”
Gilt’s son was unharmed in the incident.
Many have taken to Jamie’s page to vent their frustrations over her apparent negligence in the situation. Several gun owners blasted the mom for allowing a gun to be within her child’s reach, stating that it was a rallying outcry for anti-gun advocates to jump all over. The fear that all gun owners would be lumped in the same category as being irresponsible and careless was a very valid one. A national crisis has been at the forefront of the nation for years concerning senseless gun violence.
Various reports covering this accidental shooting have revealed that very few have sympathy for Jamie Gilt. Her pro-gun stances coupled with being a mother has squarely put her in the middle of a heated debate. It wasn’t just the fact her child got a hold of the gun inside her truck, but the fact that the boy could’ve turned the gun on himself or could’ve accidentally killed someone.
[Photo Credit: Jamie Gilt Facebook Page]
