For the second time in the space of eight days, a three year old has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in St Louis. Daniel Metz, the son of s serving police officer, found a loaded gun in his parent's bedroom, and shot himself in the chest. As his father was on patrol at the time, this was not his service weapon.
This follows on from a similar case last week when three year old Lilliana Moore found a loaded gun wedged between two matresses and shot herself fatally in the head.
On the same day two other kids were aslo shot in St Louis
A 13-year-old girl was rushed to hospital after she accidentally shot herself in the side. Police said they did not yet know how she had got the gun.
Earlier an 11-year-old boy was shot in the neck by a teenager as he played basketball with friends outside his apartment.
Last night he was in a serious condition in hospital.
St Louis has a population of 320,000 and is ranked as one of the top 10 most dangerous cities in the US, with a homicide rate of 45/100,000. If it follows the usual ratio then around 80% of those homicides will be by firearm, meaning there will be around between 2 and three firearm homicides each week. Deaths such as those mentioned above are of course not counted as homicides.
St Louis , population 320,000 has more firearm homicides per week than the UK population 62 million
Even Germany, population 80 plus million, with firearm regulations much less stringent than the UK manages only around 6 to 7 firearm murders per week.
What is the price of preserving an unfetttered second amendment? At what point to pro gun people accept that something needs to change?