10-23-2013, 09:47 PM
Another kid, another gun left laying around, another funeral
![[Image: n-MELISSA-large.jpg?6]](http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1422309/thumbs/n-MELISSA-large.jpg?6)
Melissa Ann Ringhardt, 19, (pictured above) was charged Tuesday in the death of 5-year-old John Read, The Orange Leader reports. Ringhardt lives in Vidor, Texas with the boy's family, who left him and a 6-month-old child in her care Monday afternoon, according to NBC News.
Orange County deputies say the teen put her semiautomatic .40-caliber handgun on a coffee table before going to take a nap. When she awoke, she found the 5-year-old lying on the floor in the living room with a gunshot wound to the head.
The home does not have a landline phone and Ringhardt's phone was out of minutes, so she carried Read to his grandparent's home a block away, where they called police.
Although deputies said Read's death was an accident, Ringhardt was charged with abandoning or endangering a child.
"People have the right to bear arms and with that comes great responsibility," Chief Deputy Clint Hodgkinson told KFDM. "If someone somehow puts a firearm in a place where a child is able to get that weapon, you've committed an offense."
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So many of these young kids have been told over and over not to touch the guns when unsupervised and have had "safety training" by their parents/guardians.
Doesn't matter. Little kids are little kids and they're gonna pick things up and play around with them. Glad to see the adults being prosecuted for endangerment in more of these cases recently.
Melissa Ann Ringhardt, 19, (pictured above) was charged Tuesday in the death of 5-year-old John Read, The Orange Leader reports. Ringhardt lives in Vidor, Texas with the boy's family, who left him and a 6-month-old child in her care Monday afternoon, according to NBC News.
Orange County deputies say the teen put her semiautomatic .40-caliber handgun on a coffee table before going to take a nap. When she awoke, she found the 5-year-old lying on the floor in the living room with a gunshot wound to the head.
The home does not have a landline phone and Ringhardt's phone was out of minutes, so she carried Read to his grandparent's home a block away, where they called police.
Although deputies said Read's death was an accident, Ringhardt was charged with abandoning or endangering a child.
"People have the right to bear arms and with that comes great responsibility," Chief Deputy Clint Hodgkinson told KFDM. "If someone somehow puts a firearm in a place where a child is able to get that weapon, you've committed an offense."
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So many of these young kids have been told over and over not to touch the guns when unsupervised and have had "safety training" by their parents/guardians.
Doesn't matter. Little kids are little kids and they're gonna pick things up and play around with them. Glad to see the adults being prosecuted for endangerment in more of these cases recently.