×

After northern Michigan tragedy, police remind gun owners to lock up their guns

News Photo by Julie Riddle At the Michigan State Police-Alpena Post on Friday, Trooper Kyle Kettler displays a Project ChildSafe gun lock, available free at most local police agencies.

ALPENA — On Monday, a 5-year-old boy was shot in the head by another child in Mancelona, a village of fewer than 1,500 residents southwest of Gaylord.

According to police, the gun used in the shooting had been stored, loaded, in an unsecured bin in a bedroom.

In northern Michigan — where guns hang on many walls and children grow up watching their parents use the weapons as part of a hunting culture — free gun locks, available through several local police agencies, offer one line of defense that could prevent more such tragedies as the one in Mancelona this week, police say.

Children, naturally curious, can find even guns parents think they’ve hidden, said Trooper Heidi Killingbeck, of the Michigan State Police-Alpena Post.

Though parents can — and should — teach their children about gun safety, young people who want to emulate their parents or show off for a friend could mishandle a gun left accessible in the house, with tragic consequences, Killingbeck said.

Like other police agencies in the area, the Alpena Post distributes free locks provided by Project Childsafe, a program of the National Shooting Sports Foundation to promote firearms safety and education. When used properly, the locks prevent gun owners from loading bullets into a gun’s chamber.

Several people a week take a lock from the post’s front desk, Killingbeck said. Troopers also hand out gun locks at school events, where many parents gladly accept one, she said.

Up North culture embraces guns, but residents do not always lock those guns up when not using them, according to Trooper Kyle Kettler of the Alpena Post.

When police go into Northeast Michigan homes, they regularly see rifles displayed on walls, lying on shelves, or propped behind doors. Hopefully, Kettler said, those weapons are not loaded, but their accessibility could endanger a child when a caregiver leaves a room for even a short time.

He and Killingbeck both grew up in homes with guns, but those guns were locked up, and children were taught the dangers of playing with them, the officers said.

Children old enough to take gun safety classes should do so, they advised, and parents should talk to their kids about how to be safe around guns — even if they own no guns themselves, Killingbeck said.

No amount of education or warnings can protect the youngest children, Kettler said, urging parents to use Project ChildSafe locks, gun safes, or other means to make sure their kids can’t get guns and those guns can’t fire.

In January, an 18-month-old toddler playing with a gun accidentally shot and killed his 5-year-old cousin. Four days later, a 4-year-old boy accidentally shot and injured himself after finding a weapon inside another Detroit home.

Within the same week, a 3-year-old accidentally shot himself and died in Owosso, a city of 15,000 residents south of Flint.

In May, an Ottawa County 4-year-old died after an accidental shooting involving a pellet gun.

More than 4.5 million U.S. children live in homes with at least one loaded, unlocked firearm — and most of those children know where to find the gun, according to Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a national gun safety advocacy center.

While 29 states have gun laws that punish people who improperly store guns that hurt children, Michigan has no such child gun access laws, according to the Giffords Law Center.

Under a pair of bills introduced to the state legislature in June, gun owners could be charged with a felony and go to jail for up to five years if a child harms himself or herself or another person with an improperly stored gun.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today