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'Completely preventable': Gun safety reiterated after 2-year-old kills self with unsecured gun

By and FOX 2 Staff
Published  June 12, 2023 10:20pm EDT
Crime and Public Safety
FOX 2 Detroit

How to use a gun lock

After a 2-year-old child killed themselves with an unsecured gun over the weekend, a gun safety activist shares how to use a cable gun lock, which is an easily accessible way to lock up your weapon.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The importance of securing weapons is being reiterated by gun safety activists and police alike after a 2-year-old shot and killed themselves with an unsecured weapon Sunday.

"It’s unfortunate. It’s completely preventable. That’s my main takeaway," said Chad King, a gun safety activist and president of the Black Bottom Gun Club.

King's reaction comes a day after the child of a Dearborn police corporal got ahold of a gun in a Howell home and fatally shot themselves.

"Every gun owner needs to have a vested interest in being a responsible gun owner. Every gun owner needs to have a vested interest to make sure our children are safe," King said.

King demonstrated how to use a cable gun lock, which is provided for free when you purchase a gun in Michigan.

"You’ll stick the long end of the cable, after you unlock it - through the breach, through the magazine well, and then you’ll put it in the hole on the bottom lock, turn the key, take the key out and this gun is secure. No one can load a magazine in here. You can try to put a round in the chamber, but the slide won’t go back all the way to get it into battery, so it can shoot," he said.

If you don't have a gun lock, they are easy to access.

"They’ve available at our substations. I always take them to the Coffee with the Sheriff meetings. It’s something we have been doing and supporting for a number of years," Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.

The locks are also available at Michigan State Police posts and Detroit police precincts.

In April, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation adding safe storage requirements for gun owners. King said he gets the rationale but thinks lawmakers missed an opportunity to do even more.

"Where I think the legislator missed at was that they could have subsidized the cost of one of these smaller snap-safe lockboxes for about 30 bucks. The state of Utah has done it. The state of Virginia is doing it. Why not Michigan?" he said.