Child shooting deaths in U.S. spur action

Press, 11 July 1989, Page 17

Child shooting deaths in U.S. spur action

By

TOM BRIDGMAN,

NZPA, Washington.

j A 14-year-old boy here ’ shot to death his 12-year- • old girlfriend as she J pestered him for money • to pay for an abortion. J An autopsy later • revealed the girl was mistaken, and she had not ; been pregnant at all. Her tragically-ended short life was yet another statistic to add to the mounting toll of children shooting and killing children in the United States. The American Academy of Pediatrics say children younger than 14 are involved in about 250 accidental shooting deaths each year. Gunshot deaths are not uncommon in a country with a mania for weapons, lax rules on who can obtain them, and zealots who screech infringement of constitutional rights every time an attempt is made to toughen gun laws. Half of all households in the United States have a gun — an estimated 60 million handguns and 140 million rifles and shotguns for a population of 250 million. Now a spate of shootings in Florida, a state where 60 per cent of households have at least one gun, has set off an emotional debate about what to do about children shooting children. In Florida this month five children have been shot playing with guns. Three died and one is paralysed for life. One killing in particular caught attention and prompted support for a measure put forward by Governor Bob Martinez that would send to prison anyone whose gun is .used Jhy a child to kill or-jnaim. 3? Eight-year-old Erin

Smith died after she was shot by her brother Sean, aged 10, when they were home alone. Sean had found the ,38-calibre revolver, which he did not think was loaded, in a drawer A recording of the boy’s panicked call to the police emergency number has been played frequently on news programmes around the state. “I didn’t know my dad’s, my dad’s gun was loaded and ... and I shot her,” he cried. “Please don’t die. Please God. Please, don’t be dead.” His anguished pleas were to no avail. The next day a 13-year-old Orlando boy shot and killed a 10-year-old friend with a loaded pistol he found in his father’s briefcase. A day after a six-year-old boy wounded his four-year-old sister when he dropped a handgun on the kitchen floor and it went off. Later that week a nine-year-old Tampa boy was shot in the back by his 13-year-old brother and a four-year-old died on Saturday after shooting himself with a gun he found under a couch. Florida has long opposed stricter gun controls, and in fact in 1987 eased off on-what laws existed. That year the state legislature passed a law virtually eliminating the “cooling off waiting period for gun purchases, wiped out 400 local gun laws, and allowed most in the state to carry concealed weapons. “No wonder so many adults treat guns like kids, stuff,” commented the television programme U.S.A. Today. “No wonder, the number of kids filled by guns in

doubled in two years.” The child deaths have prompted Governor Martinez to call a special legislative session to consider a new law on making sure weapons are safely locked away in the home. Under the proposal adults who leave loaded, guns where children can reach them could be imprisoned for up to five years if a child is killed or injured. Opponents have said such a law would doubly punish a family whose child had been killed in an accident. “But what about the safety-conscious parent whose child goes next door to play, only to be accidently shot by the son or daughter of an irresponsible gun owner?” says Governor Martinez. “Doesn’t that parent deserve the support of bur laws?” Others argue that children need more education about gun safety, especially as figures gathered by the Centre to Prevent Handgun Violence show that 66 per cent of the 533 accidential handgun shootings of children from 1985 to 1988 happened when children were home alone. In Florida’s ■ Dade County, where 57 children were accidently or intentionally shot last year, authorities have begun a school programme on gun safety. John Darling, a former director of the Handgun control lobby group, has produced an educational video on firearms safety. Four years ago his 10-year-old son was shot to death by a 13-year-old neighbour in their home.