COLUMBUS – A Columbus man charged in the first case involving the city’s recently-passed safe gun storage ordinance has pleaded guilty to two counts of negligent storage of a firearm and one count of child endangerment.
Video courtesy office of Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein
The charges were filed after Matthew Rivas’ child found a gun Rivas owned on a sofa and fired it as another child looked on, causing burns to the first child’s hand and short term hearing loss, according to Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein.
The gun went off again when Rivas grabbed it from the sofa.
“As a father, the images of a small child reaching into a couch cushion, finding a loaded firearm and discharging the weapon nearly pointed at his face are almost too chilling to watch. There’s nothing wrong with responsible gun ownership but leaving an unsecured gun around a house for kids to find is not responsible,” Klein said.
After a discussion with the mother of two of the children at the scene, Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Jarrod Skinner sentenced Rivas to 10 days in jail, 170 days in jail that were suspended, a $150 fine, two years of probation, and ordered the gun to be destroyed, Klein said.
As part of the plea agreement, Rivas is prohibited from owning, possessing or using a firearm while he is on probation.