JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- Over the last few months several Missouri children have lost their lives after accidentally shooting themselves with a gun.
Earlier this week 2-year-old Logan Jenkins shot himself to death with a handgun.
On July 12, a 3-year-old St. Louis girl shot herself in the head after finding a gun in the room where she was left alone.
On July 19, a 3-year-old son of a suburban St. Louis police officer fatally shot himself in the chest with his father's personal handgun.
Just a day later another St. Louis-area child died after police said a 10-year-old boy accidentally shot his 5-year-old brother.
Often times it seems as though the child's curiosity is what ultimately pulled the trigger.
Clinical psychologist Kim Dempsey said young children usually don't understand how dangerous guns are.
"Sometimes they really don't understand that dead is really dead and that kind of thing,” Dempsey said. “They don't really understand the full impact and cause and effect at a young age."
But Dempsey said, kids aren't always the ones to blame.
"Sometimes parents have unrealistic expectations to what kids will understand,” Dempsey said. “They think their child would never do that, or they would never touch a gun but sometimes they do."
Many argue that children shouldn't even play with toy guns, fearing it could make them more at ease to play with a real one.
In 2009 Arkansas banned the sale of realistic looking toy firearms.
So we asked you on our Facebook page what you thought about kids playing with toy guns.
Many of you said you do let your child play with them.
“My kids love toy guns I tell them to point them away from people and point them to shoot the wall or their bed,” Tabetha said.
“I have a 4 year old that has a toy gun we have explained to him you never point at yourself or another person ,” LeAnn said. “When it is not being used it goes into the gun safe. we are strict, you have instill gun safety no matter if it's a toy or real thing!”
Many child activists said children think playing with guns is OK also because of what they've seen in movies, on TV, and in violent video games.
"They have a lot of those first person shooter games and i think a lot of times the kids that have attention problems or impulse problems, that when they're playing that all of the time they don't really understand and it's hard for them to distinguish reality from the game," Dempsey said.
Police advise people who keep guns in their home to keep the gun and ammunition in two separate locked locations.
Gun locks are just a few bucks, or you can get one the firearm industry provides, free of charge, from your local law enforcement agency.
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