KANSAS CITY. — A boy less than five-years-old is in critical condition after accidentally shooting himself in Kansas City on Saturday night.
The Kansas City Police Department says that he “picked up an unsecured firearm and accidentally shot himself.”
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Less than two months ago, another boy died after accidentally shooting himself. “This isn’t a conversation we should be having,” Officer Alayna Gonzalez with the Kansas City Police Department said. “But were having it anyway.”
She said that to help avoid situations like these, gun owners and parents can take steps to make sure children stay safe. The first is to make sure that firearms are kept under lock and key, either in a safe or with a gun lock.
“It is your responsibility as an adult and as a parent to make sure that that is out of reach of anyone who is not supposed to have access to it,” Officer Gonzalez said.
Rosylin Temple with KC Mothers in Charge agrees. She says that her organization even gives out gun locks for free, to help curb situations like this.
“We’re willing to meet you somewhere and make sure you get one, lock the guns up around the children,” Temple said. “They are killing people, and babies at that.”
The second tip is to make sure that weapons in the home are unloaded. “An unloaded firearm is going to do significantly less damage than one that is loaded and chambered with a round in it,” Gonzalez said. She mentioned that even in the need for self-defense, loading weapons takes little time. “It takes 2 seconds to put a magazine in a firearm. And an even shorter second to make it loaded. So that’s not really an excuse.”
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KCPD’s final word of advice is to make sure that children are educated when it comes to guns.
“It is so critical to teach them how important it is to not touch firearms,” Gonzalez said. “These are children. There’s no reason as to why we’re not practicing gun safety in our homes when we have innocent hands that are able to get a hold of them.”
KCPD is investigating the incident, so far, no one has been taken into custody.
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