July 18, 2000, 9:03PM

Willis residents back gun rights despite accidents

By HARVEY RICE
Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle

WILLIS — The accidental death of a 3-year-old boy who found a pistol under a mattress has done
little to sway a strong pro-gun sentiment in this north Montgomery County city of 5,000.

“I’m an old country boy and I’m a firm believer that individuals should have the right to protect
themselves,” said Richard Evans, 56, a machine shop owner.

Evans’ opinion was typical of Willis residents in an informal survey following the death last week of
Cory Smith of Willis.

The boy had been playing in his mother’s bedroom and found a 9 mm pistol hidden under the mattress.
He was buried Tuesday.

Firearms killed 84 children age 4 and younger nationwide in 1997, according to the most recently
published figures from the National Center for Health Statistics.

In Texas, unofficial figures for 1999 from the state Bureau of Epidemiology show that firearms killed
two children age 5 or younger.

When people age 19 and younger are included, the national figure is 4,223 and the Texas figure is 21.

Although saddened by Cory Smith’s death, many Willis residents said parents bear the responsibility for
keeping children away from guns.

“Too many kids get killed with guns because of their parents or grandparents,” who fail to take safety
precautions, Evans said.

He added that he is a “firm believer” in the use of trigger locks and favors a law requiring them.

Frank Stanley, 51, and his wife, Ellen, 41, said they strongly oppose any sort of gun-control law,
including trigger locks.

“I really think they are trying to disarm us,” said Stanley, who runs an electronics shop with his wife.

“Our hearts go out to that family,” his wife said. “I can’t even imagine losing a kid.” Nevertheless, she
said only parents can prevent such accidents.

Although there is widespread antipathy in the community for gun control, several Willis residents defied
the trend. Jose Luis Garcia, 44, a cook, said, “I don’t think guns should be kept in the house.”

He said gun-control measures could put an end to the market in illegal guns.

Advocates from both sides of the gun-control issue interpreted Cory’s death differently.

The number of children killed each year by guns is low, said Don Kates, criminologist and research
fellow at the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, a conservative think tank in San Francisco.

“This is an extremely rare phenomenon,” Kates said. “Basically, the number of children killed each year
in gun accidents is about the same number each year killed from eating iron tablets.

“The problem is wildly exaggerated,” he said.

But Brian Morton, spokesman for the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence based in Washington,
D.C., said, “This isn’t a question of how many kids die from eating iron tablets. The question is, `Are
these deaths preventable?’

“Unfortunately, it happens a lot more than you would think,” Morton said. “People are leaving their guns
loaded and unlocked and kids are getting a hold of them.”