4-year old Detroit girl shoots self with father's unsecured gun in car

A 4-year old girl in Detroit was having trouble sleeping at midnight, so the family put her in their car.  The girl then found her father's loaded, unsecured gun in the car and shot herself in the thigh.


The father had a license for the gun.


From an article:

The girl was playing inside a parked vehicle when she found the gun and accidentally shot herself. She is at a hospital and is expected to recover.

A woman who answered the door Monday at the home identified herself as the girl's aunt and said family members were gathered at the house when the accident happened.

"She wouldn't go to sleep," the woman said when asked why the girl was up at nearly midnight. She said the girl's father and other family members were at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit on Monday with the girl.

....

The owner of the weapon in Sunday's shooting has a license to carry a gun, [Sgt.] Stephens said.

"It's important that every person who is the owner of a weapon ... must keep it secured," Stephens said.

Neighbor Kelly Segar, 44, said she heard the gunshot from across the street. She said she didn't look to see what had happened because gunshots ring out in the neighborhood periodically.

She said the father of the girl who was shot is one of the people who looks out for others in the neighborhood.

"He is visible in the neighborhood -- he watches out a lot," she said, adding that she is surprised about what happened to the girl.

"The question I have is, 'Why is she up that late and why was she in the car at 12 o'clock at night?' " Segar said. "I'm glad she's OK, though."

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.