More gun safety needed in homes
Gun Free South Africa says research shows that three in four children who promise not to touch their parent's guns, actually do handle the weapon.
The association's Claire Taylor has been speaking to Newswatch a week after a tragic shooting outside Margate, in which a six-year-old boy shot dead his two-year-old brother.
He apparently found the gun in his grandmother's bag.
Taylor says the research done in the US has shown that children and guns are a lethal combination.
"A six-year-old, a two-year-old cannot comprehend the enormity of shooting someone. So it is the adult's responsibility. But as a the child gets older he or she will realise what they've done even though it's not their fault. For the long term consequences for the child who shot another child are enormous because of the owner's negligence," she said.
Police say the grandmother faces charges of failing to safeguard a firearm and the six-year-old will undergo counselling to assist him in coping with the incident.
Details of the funeral have yet to be announced.
(Photo: Gallo Images)