Update on the 11 Year Old Girl Accidentally Shot by Her Father

From the Minneapolis, MN STrib:

Girl remains in critical condition after being accidentally shot by father article by: KELLY SMITH , Star Tribune

"It's a traumatic, tragic situation,"Maddy Montanye's uncle said Saturday.

An 11 year-old Pine County girl remained in a medically induced coma Saturday after being accidentally shot by her father two days before.

Maddy Montanye was in critical condition at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis after doctors removed the bullet lodged in her brain and extracted parts of her skull Friday to relieve pressure.
"It's a traumatic, tragic situation," said her uncle, Jason Montanye. "She's a strong-willed girl. We're very optimistic things will work out."
She was shot Thursday night when her father's gun went off at their rural Braham, Minn., home.

the article goes on to say:

Cole said the Sheriff's Department is still investigating the accident and will refer its findings to the Pine County attorney's office. It's unclear until the investigation concludes whether charges will be filed, he added. "Obviously a young girl was severely injured. If there was negligence or something ... we'll go from there," he said.
Cole said it's been "some time" since an accidental shooting has occurred in Pine County.
Statewide, about 300 to 400 unintentional firearm injuries have been reported by Minnesota hospitals each year, according to state Health Department data. The age group that most often falls victim: 10- to 19-year-olds.
In 2009, 710 firearm injuries were reported by Minnesota hospitals and of those, nearly half -- 332 incidents -- were unintentional. Of unintentional firearm injuries, most were teens or pre-teens; 86 15- to 19-year-olds were injured, followed by 56 10- to 14-year-olds.

That seems a lot of shootings, to me, in a state that is supposed to be one of the safer of the 50; can you imagine what the numbers must be in those which are worse? The STrib concludes:

Richard Stock teaches firearm safety classes in the metro through the state Department of Natural Resources. When he hears of accidental shootings, "it almost always boils down to you're not following the fundamentals of firearm safety," he said. "Always know where your gun is pointing and always treat is like it's loaded."
Jason Montanye said the family is focused on Maddy, and appreciates the support from the community and others on their CaringBridge site. "You always hear about it [incidents like this]; it's never supposed to happen to you," he said. "We're still optimistic about everything."

While it is great that this is a strong willed girl, I don't have a lot of faith that is enough to overcome a bullet.  We can only hope and pray that excellent medical care and a good trauma unit will help even more.  I can't help but feel the statement "it's never supposed to happen to you" and "We're still optimistic about everything" seems to suggest, at least to me, a certain lack of thoughtfulness that some of the choices they take for granted contributed to this tragedy.