On a quiet evening just before New Year's, Dwyane Carson and his friend Arthur DeWitt, both 9, were playing in Dwyane's Northeast Houston home, when they found a loaded .22-cal. rifle in the youngster's bedroom closet. Dwyane's father, a hunting enthusiast, had never shown the boy how to handle firearms. Toying with the rifle, Dwyane accidentally shot and killed Arthur.
Ordinarily, such an occurrence, however regrettable, would not attract much attention (in 1983, the latest year for which such figures are available, 261 youngsters under age 18 were killed in shooting mishaps). But the next day another Houston boy, 12, shot...
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