A pro-gun activist from Florida was accidentally shot in the back by her 4-year-old son, who had found found a pistol on the floor of her pickup truck, police said.
Jamie Gilt, 31, was driving to a relative’s home on Tuesday to pick up a horse when her young son pulled the trigger. He was in a seat behind her’s, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department said in a release.
“Our investigation has revealed that the firearm was legally owned by the victim and the child came to possess the firearm without the victim’s knowledge,” the department stated.
Florida officials are now investigating how the firearm was being stored in the vehicle.
According to the release, a deputy saw Gilt, who lives in Jacksonville, in the driver’s seat telling him to come over.
“The deputy ran to the vehicle and quickly determined that the driver had been shot,” and he provided “first aid until the arrival of paramedics.” She was later taken to the University of Florida Health in Gainesville and was reported to be in stable condition.
Her boy, who was not injured, was given to relatives, the release stated.
Under Florida law, “it [is] a misdemeanor for a person to store or leave, on a premise under his or her control, a loaded firearm in such a manner that it is likely a child can gain access to the firearm.”
On Monday, Gilt had written on her Facebook page: “Even my 4 year old gets jacked up to target shoot with the .22,” referring to the caliber, during a gun debate about guns as a means of self-defense, according to the New York Daily News.
She runs a Facebook page, Jamie Gilt for Gun Sense, where she posts pro-Second Amendment and pro-gun content. A number of people appeared to be making fun of her on the page on Wednesday after the news broke.
“My right to protect my child with my gun trumps your fear of my gun,” she also wrote on Feb. 13.
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