A Flint, Michigan man has become the first person charged under the state’s new safe storage law after his 2-year-old daughter shot herself in the head with an unsecured handgun, and according to published reports, this is not his only problem.
According to a lengthy Associated Press report published in a Killeen, Texas newspaper, 44-year-old Michael Tolbert has been charged with nine felony counts, along with charges of felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and lying to a peace officer.
ABC News is reporting the youngster is hospitalized in critical condition, and Tolbert allegedly had two handguns in his home, a revolver and semiautomatic pistol, “both of which were unsecured and loaded.”
Michigan’s safe storage law took effect Feb. 13. It was passed last year in response to high-profile shootings, at a Michigan high school and at Michigan State University on Feb. 13, 2022.
The mother of high school shooter Ethan Crumbley was convicted of manslaughter earlier this month under a Michigan law holding parents of mass shooters criminally liable. The 17-year-old is serving a life sentence for killing four classmates at Oxford High School.
Jennifer Crumbley will be sentenced in April, and could face decades in prison if the court follows a recommendation to have her sentences on each of the four charges run consecutively rather than concurrently.
James Crumbley, the shooter’s father, will be tried separately in that case next month.
Published reports say Flint police learned of the shooting only after Tolbert took the child to a hospital.
Tolbert has been described as a “habitual offender.” The next court hearing in this case is slated for Feb. 29. He faces multiple charges, including first-degree child abuse, violation of the new safe storage law and the felon-in-possession charge.
According to the New York Post, the child was struck in the right eye, and the bullet exited through the back of her head. Reader reactions to the story included remarks from one gun owner who “opposes just about every gun control proposal,” but was “100% in favor” of the charges against Tolbert.
