Gun ownership is not free in America, and too often children pay the price.

In 2005, 173 children and teens were killed accidentally by gunfire. Another 3,000 suffered accidental gunshot wounds, but survived.

Gracie Elizabeth Rhodes will be one of those counted who tragically lost her young life in 2008.

In the Asheville Citizen-Times:

A man was apparently cleaning his .22 caliber rifle Thursday when it accidentally fired and killed his 15-month-old daughter sitting nearby, investigators said Friday.

Rutherford County sheriff’s deputies responded to a residence on Rock Road at 1:30 p.m. and found the man with his daughter who had suffered a single gunshot wound to the stomach, Chief Deputy Jeff Bunchanan said.

The girl, Gracie Elizabeth Rhodes, was taken to Rutherford Hospital, where she died during surgery.

“Basically, it’s been indicated that he was cleaning a .22 rifle and it accidentally discharged,� said Buchanan.

The girl was apparently sitting nearby in a high chair, Buchanan said. Her father, Jonathan Rhodes, rushed her to a neighbor’s home to get help and they called 911, he said.

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