The Nation: Toddler with a Gun

Robert Bell, a security guard, went to visit his mother's house in South Baltimore. He took with him his girl friend and her two boys, aged three and six. He also took along his .357-magnum pistol. He placed it in his mother's dining room cabinet.

The boys found it and took it outside in the streets to play. They had apparently been squabbling earlier with some neighborhood children. One of the boys waved it in a girl's face and said, "I'm going to shoot you, and I'm not going to miss." Then the three-year-old grasped...

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