A man, Joseph Austin Smith, in Kansas tragically died after his dog fatally shot him in the back while on a hunting trip

A man in Kansas tragically died after his dog fatally shot him in the back while on a hunting trip. Officials say the freak hunting accident occurred over the weekend as 30 year old Joseph Austin Smith took his dog on a hunting trip.

Smith, who is originally from Wichita, was killed in his car after his dog stepped on his rifle, causing the firearm to discharge and fire a round into his back. Officials with the Sumner County Sheriff's Office say the incident occurred around 9:40 a.m. on Saturday (January 21) in the 1600 block of 80th Street, in the north-northeast area of Geuda Springs. The sheriff’s office said that upon arrival, they found the man sitting in the front passenger seat of his pickup truck, and was dressed in hunting gear. They started to administer CPR immediately, but he was shortly pronounced dead at the scene.

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According to the Sumner County Sheriff's Office, “A canine belonging to the owner of the pickup stepped on the rifle causing the weapon to discharge. The fired round struck the passenger who died of his injuries on scene. The investigation is ongoing, but the preliminary investigation shows it to be a hunting related accident.” Elsewhere, it is reported, via data from the Gun Violence Archive, that there have been 101 unintentional shootings in the United States, since the beginning of 2023. In 2022, there were more than 1,600 unintentional shootings reported. And so far in 2023 (just 24 days in), there have been more than 2,400 gun deaths recorded.