Houston (AFP) - A three-year-old girl killed her four-year-old sister after accidentally shooting her with a semi-automatic pistol Sunday in Texas, US police said.

This tragedy is the latest example of the dire effects of the proliferation of firearms in the United States.

The official in Harris Police, located in the suburbs of Houston, Ed Gonzalez, indicated that the child "was able to reach a semi-automatic pistol loaded with bullets," adding that the family members heard a gunshot, so they quickly went to the room to find the four-year-old girl's body.
The girl's death was announced immediately.

Gonzalez added that what happened "constitutes a new tragic incident resulting from a child's ability to reach a gun and kill another person."

There are about 400 million weapons in circulation in the United States, that is, their number exceeds the population, while one adult out of every three owns at least one weapon, and one adult out of every two lives in a house that contains a weapon.

More than 44,000 deaths from firearms were recorded in the United States last year, half of them by suicide and the other half as a result of homicide, accidents, or reasons related to self-defense, according to the Gun Violence Archive website.
Texas is one of the easiest states in the US to get a gun.