DETROIT (DDN) – A 4-year-old child in Detroit is lucky to be alive after police say he accidentally shot himself in the hand on Friday afternoon.
Authorities said the youngster got hold of an unsecured gun inside his family’s home on Fullerton Avenue on the city’s west side.
The shooting, while horrifying, is regrettably more often than expected. That’s why Michigan now has legislation to prevent gun owners from giving their children access to their firearms.
A Michigan legislation that went into effect in February 2024 requires handgun owners to keep any unattended firearms unloaded and locked or stored in a gun safe if a child is present in the home.
“You can’t just grab your firearm and hide it. “It must be safe,” said Konstantine Prapas, the chief firearms instructor at Double Action Indoor Shooting Center & Gun Shop.
“You can either use a lockbox or a cable lock. However, it must be inaccessible to children. It must be kept up, and you are now deemed accountable for it; if the youngster obtains it, it is your obligation to keep it safe and away from this child, preventing a tragic tragedy.”
According to the NGO Brady: United Against Gun Violence, there are around 350 unintentional shootings in America each year when a youngster pulls the trigger of their parents’ unsecured gun, and almost every case is preventable.
“If they have a firearm, which they are allowed to have, it must be secured,” said Captain Michael Dicicco of the Detroit Police Department. “It can’t just be out there, especially somewhere a tiny child or anyone can get to. It is the obligation of a gun owner or possessor to protect that gun and ensure that no one injures oneself, as in this instance.”
The boy is likely to recover.
Detroit police are currently pursuing a warrant to search the home. It’s unclear whether charges will be filed.
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