(WXYZ) — Enough is enough. That was the message from Detroit police on Saturday as officers were giving out free gun locks to the community.
It comes a day after a 3-year-old boy got ahold of his mother's gun and shot himself in the face. Thankfully, that child is going to be OK, but police say they don't want any more kids getting hurt because of unsecured guns.
Watch our report about the 3-year-old in the video below
Free gun locks are available at every Detroit Police Department precinct. DPD is encouraging people to lock up their guns so no more children get hurt.
“We’re getting careless and we should not be getting careless, especially if you got kids. You got your grand babies in the house, you just have elderly people in the house, you should have gun locks," Detroit resident Geri Washington said.
Washington was one of the many Detroit residents who were at DPD's gun safety event held at their gun range on Saturday. She received a gun lock and an officer showed her how to use it.
“Once you render the gun safe, you’re going to go ahead and take your gun lock, insert it, turn the lock and it’s now inoperable," police showed on the demonstration.
“It’ll be easier now that I know what I’m supposed to do cause I was locking it, but I was locking it wrong," Washington said.
In the shooting on Friday, Detroit Police Chief James White said the boy's mom had a gun lock box, but at the time of the shooting, she left the gun on the counter.
“Enough is enough, we’ve all got to do better job of protecting our children, if you’re going to have a weapon, you’re going to have responsibility and it’s not going to be tolerated," White said.
“You want it to be as hard as possible for them to get ahold of it, and to actually use it," Whitnie Denard said.
Denard was also at the gun safety event on Saturday. She said her nieces and nephews are at her house a lot and she wanted to make sure she had gun locks for her weapons.
“It’s way too many babies finding guns and hurting themselves because the parents or whoever was in charge was careless with the weapon," Denard said.
If you do have a gun and there are kids in the house, keep in mind that Michigan's gun storage law went into effect last year.
So, if your gun is not secured and a child shoots themselves or someone else, you could face prison time.
White said the mom of the 3-year-old is facing charges.
