5-year-old fatally shot by brother, 10, in Belleville (St. Louis)

[jpak]

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_c1fc099c-ddfc-51ab-b81e-27701c36b428.html

A 5-year-old Belleville boy was shot to death in his home Wednesday night by his 10-year-old brother in what police are calling an "extremely tragic" accidental shooting.

"This was not a self-inflicted wound," Belleville Police Chief Bill Clay said. "We're still trying to determine how they got access to the weapon."

The shooting was the third fatal one involving a child in the St. Louis region in recent days.

Speaking outside the home in the first block of Glen Grove, Belleville police Capt. Don Sax said officers received a call about the shooting just before 8 p.m. Officers who responded found the 5-year-old inside. He was pronounced dead at the scene, Sax said.

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[Myrina]

1. 2 fatal, similar, in Central IN during the last month.

http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Two-Year-Old-Connersville-Boy-Shot-Killed-By/NdYfpWkGh0i10MOyr4Xwiw.cspx


http://www.reporter-times.com/stories/2011/07/08/state.qp-7751520.sto


... and a couple in the Indy area of small children injured themselves playing with guns they 'found' in the house.

[Ilsa]

2. But, but, guns don't kill people; people kill people.

That poor family.

I knew a 12 year old boy who accidentally shot and killed his father. He was a year younger than me. He was always messed up.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. I worked with a man whose father had accidentally shot his mother when he was 12

Messed him up bad. His father killed himself a few years after the shooting. Sad sad story.

[SteveM]

11. It's fortunate that childhood deaths by gunfire have been going down...

steadily over the last 10+ years. The vast majority of gun-owners are responsible when it comes to safety in the home. And the data bears it out.

[eqfan592]

6. Ummm, wtf??

Do any of these stories involve firearms just magically flying around shooting people? I think not. So then yes, it is people killing people, in this case on accident because of negligence on the part of the parent.

[Ilsa]

8. There are kids in that house. There should not have been available

guns to play with.

[eqfan592]

9. Guns can be owned in a home with children present.

But the guns must be safely secured away from the children when not in use, and the children should be taught about firearms and firearm safety from the youngest possible age. To do neither of these is to be grossly negligent on the part of the parent.

[ileus]

13. A 10yo should know all the safety rules. My 9 and 7 yo's do...

[SteveM]

12. Respectfully, most gun-owners do not make "available guns to play with"...

Millions of family households have guns under the roof. Yet, childhood deaths via firearms are on a steady decline over the years, even as the number of firearms in homes has gone up by tens of millions. Why? Because parents do two things:

(1) Keep guns under lock & key, preferably safes with encrypted codes and print scanners; and

(2) Train their children in the safe handling and shooting of firearms.

Once children understand what guns are about, they learn to use them safely; the allure of forbidden fruit and prohibited stuff is diminished. That way, they learn "guns played with."

[SteveM]

10. Indeed they do. The National Safety Council...

compiles the causes of childhood accidental deaths. Of the major causes, death by firearm has fallen the fastest and furthest since the mid-1990s; so much so that children are less likely to be killed by gun accidents than by falls and drowning.

The vast majority of gun-owners are quite responsible, since during this same time the number of firearms in U.S. civilian hands has gone from 190,000,000 to around 320,000,000. I wish adults were as effective in taking measures to prevent falls and drowning.

http://www.chkd.org/HealthLibrary/Content.aspx?pageid=P02853

[postulater]

4. Stupid parents. Darwin Award by proxy. nt

[ileus]

5. Lock them up or keep them on your person.

[lawodevolution]

7. Still, not as common as child drownings.