It’s happened again and has become an all-too-common sad occurrence in metro Atlanta.

Miyell Hernandez, 4, waited in a car with two young relatives while his mother shopped at a DeKalb County grocery store Sunday afternoon.  

Somehow, Miyell got his hands on a gun inside the car and investigators believe he accidentally shot himself around 5 p.m., police told the AJC.

Far too many people routinely leave a loaded pistol in their vehicle and forget they have them — until it’s too late. 

This is something that parents of young children especially need to be wary of.

Everyone, especially parents, must do a better job securing their firearms so that curious, young children don’t get their hands on them.

Most people carry a pistol for self-defense.  How often have you heard about people saying they forgot about the loaded pistol in their luggage when caught trying to board a plane? Maybe they’re not all lying.

The DeKalb police department is planning to host a safety fair March 19 and will offer free gun locks and other safety tips, the AJC reported.

In the Sunday incident, a relative insisted Miyell’s mother did not own a gun and police have not released how they think the boy got his hands on the lethal device.

The shooting occurred outside a Publix on Panola Road in south DeKalb and was the second in five days that left a metro Atlanta child dead.

A 9-year-old was shot to death at an apartment complex Feb. 23 in southeast Atlanta, and Atlanta police announced that a 16-year-old was charged in the boy’s death.

In early January, a 7-year-old boy was able to survive while he waited for his mother in a vehicle. He was shot with a gun he found in the vehicle outside a Chipotle restaurant in Snellville.

A 1-year-old girl was killed after being shot by another child in her home, police told the AJC. The baby’s mother was later charged in the case. 

And two 22-year-olds were charged after six-month-old Grayson Fleming-Gray died Jan. 24 was shot while riding in a vehicle near a store on Anderson Avenue in Atlanta.

This danger will only increase in coming years in Georgia.

Georgia law allows the carry of a firearm without a license in limited situations and only to certain individuals. 

A new law which appears to be speeding to passage would allow Georgians to carry a concealed handgun without first getting a license from the state.

Tom Spigolon is news editor of The Covington News. Reach him at tspigolon@covnews.com.