Mom behind pro-gun Facebook page shot in the back by 4-year-old

(Image credit: Twitter.com/RonTimes)

published 10 March 2016

Police say a Florida woman believed to run a pro-gun Facebook page was shot by her 4-year-old son while he sat in the backseat of her truck.

A Putnam County Sheriff's deputy spotted Jamie Gilt, 31, of Jacksonville, "behaving frantically" in her car on Tuesday, Capt. Joseph Wells told The Florida Times-Union. Wells said Gilt was shot through the seat and the round went through her back, and a .45-caliber handgun was found on the floor in the back of the vehicle. The boy was not injured, and Gilt was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

It is a misdemeanor under Florida law for someone to store or leave a loaded gun where a child can access it, and investigators are looking into who the gun is registered to and how the child got it. Several media outlets are reporting that Gilt is behind a Facebook page called "Jamie Gilt for Gun Sense," which features pro-gun images and messages. On Monday, the Florida-Times Union reports, Gilt left a comment on a post defending the right to carry guns, saying that "even my 4-year-old gets jacked up to target shoot the .22."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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