Editorial: Casual attitude to guns is a killer

ON Wednesday, a young Detroit girl found a hand gun under her grandmother's pillow.

She took it to show to two other young children and accidentally shot herself in the neck.

Mariah Davis was 5 years old and the gunshot was fatal.

This is not about American gun laws and the easy access to hand guns, it's about the apparent need for American people to arm themselves to feel safe.

Detroit Police Commander Jacqueline Pritchett, of the city's 8th police precinct, stated the glaringly obvious when she said after the incident: "A gun should never be in eyesight or arm's reach of a child."

Then she followed it up by saying: "If you feel unsafe at home, wear the gun on your hip."

Welcome to the Wild West ... in Detroit, Michigan.

The semantics of "the right to bear arms" has kept people arguing for ages, but while it relates to a citizen's ability to own a gun - often a pistol - it stands.

American people can own and keep a gun. There are no laws regarding safes sunk in concrete and ammunition being kept separate; a gun owner can keep it under their pillow if that makes them feel secure.

Oh and, by the way, keep it out of reach of any children in the house, please.

We have a similar attitude to household poisons like insecticides and drain cleaners - keep them on a high shelf or in a locked cupboard.

That's how guns are regarded in the United States, a necessary component of home life ... like the vacuum cleaner.

That attitude has led to many deaths and lots of injuries when children have accessed the loaded weapon and pulled the trigger.

Oh, so that's where I left the gun - silly me! I must remember to put it back in the glovebox.

As long as the casual attitude to guns remains, the National Rifle Association will have no trouble blocking any new gun legislation.