Houston Gunplay

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 and killed his eight-year-old half brother. Two days later, a third local youngster was fatally shot with a pistol. By last week the Houston area had recorded 13 accidental shootings in nine weeks, six of them fatal, all of them involving victims under 18 years of age.

The shootings prompted a special meeting of Houston police and school officials to discuss ways to stop the carnage. A local TV station announced a series of programs and public seminars on firearms safety, and an area newspaper urged gun owners to show more responsibility. Said Police Chief Lee Brown: "If you have a weapon, you need to take care to ensure that the weapon is secure, that it is locked away and not accessible to children."

Despite the appeals for safety measures, there is little support for strict firearms laws. In Houston, gun control is as unpopular as zoning. A Texan with a driver's license or similar I.D. can walk into a gun shop, sign a federal firearms form and purchase a weapon. No waiting period or local registration is required. The absence of any significant restrictions on gun ownership has helped put firearms in more than a few bedroom closets and night-table drawers --and, it seems, into the hands of youngsters who do not realize how lethal the weapons can be.