ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. (First Alert 4) - Another incident involving a young child and an unsecured gun is raising questions and concerns about why this continues to happen and what needs to be done to stop those numbers from rising.

 We cannot just sit and let this happen over and over and over when it's 100% preventable,  James Clark, Vice President for Public Safety at the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, stated.

A quiet Bellefontaine Neighbors community, now the latest site of an unintentional shooting involving a young child.

 You got to begin to take accountability,  Clark exclaimed.  And you got to take responsibility. 

Bellefontaine Neighbors Police said the incident happened on Sunday at 9 p.m. at a home on the 9600 block of Duluth Drive.

Investigators said the 4-year-old gained access to a gun that was left unattended and unsecured on a couch in the home. While handling that firearm, police said the child accidentally fired a shot, injuring his hand.

 We were all young once and were very curious and were full of adventure, but we live at a time where guns are recognizable,  Clark explained.  A young person knows what a gun is, and they see enough on television and in the cartoons, so they're curious. 

According to gun safety advocacy group Everytown, Missouri currently ranks fourth in the nation when it comes to unintentional shootings by children. The state has seen 129 incidents between 2015 and 2023.

Additionally, more than seven in 10 of those shootings occurred in or around homes.

 We have reached the point where families have to begin to take the necessary steps to secure guns,  Clark emphasized.  We cannot be passive with it, we have to be aggressive with it; just as we know we have to have the smoke detectors, we got to have the gun locks. 

Advocates explained that gun locks are one proven way to decrease the number of incidents.

 We've had parents call and say my one-year-old walked into the kitchen carrying the gun, but it had the rod going through it. We don't know how he found it, but had that rod, had it not been secured with a gun lock, it could hav
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