Bullet hits boy in face

A 12-YEAR-OLD boy has been accidentally shot in the face at a farm in the second gun incident involving a child in a month.

The boy was playing with a friend on the farm in southwestern NSW when the .22 rifle discharged and he was hit in the face by a ricocheting bullet, which travelled through his shoulder. He was driven from the property at Thuddungra to a hospital nearly 20km away.

Police are investigating whether the weapon was registered. A three-year-old girl died in her western Sydney home last month after being accidentally shot.