@verga
I am asking because I don't know the answer to the question,"Is a typical 6 year old boy strong enough to cycle a slide in a typical semi-auto handgun in order to load it?"
Chances are it was stored with a round chambered,and no trigger lock. Note the news article claimed the trigger lock was in place,but only after a few days of silence. Probably because they knew nothing about trigger locks,and needed to find out so they could claim a trigger lock was in place in order to make sure the parents weren't charged with child neglect as well as accessory to an attempted murder.
I am not sure about the ability of a 6 yr. old to rack a slide, I was commenting on the fact that almost every cop show, or action movie shows people racking slides on a consistent basis.
The other point about the trigger lock makes sense. The other point is if the lock was in place, where was the key? seriously a locked gun that you can't get to is just a useless as an empty one.