If the world has learned anything from the United States of America over the past decade, it has been that slack gun laws enable the shooting of others by the wrong people easily and en mass. On the other hand, due to its closed-door policy history and strict laws relating to the use of firearms and weapons, China remains one of the safest places in the world to live, even with its super sized population.
Out of all of China’s 661 cities, Nanjing’s reputation as, statistically, one of the safest places to live in the country, is still in good stead. So it comes as a surprise to learn that villagers not so far from our city are in possession of shotguns. Local residents insisted upon The Nanjinger correspondents that it is impossible to get hold of a gun in China, and that there are even laws against what types of knives one can carry and how big.
Recent reports of an 8-year-old boy who picked up his father’s gun, thinking it was a toy, and shot 11-year-old Zhang Shuting, reveal that gun possession in China is not so impossible after all. The little girl was hit by hundreds of pellets all over her body, as a result of the shooting last December in rural Fuyang in Anhui province, near to Nanjing. At 11-years-old, she faces partial paralysis as a result of bullets lodged in her neck and has undergone multiple surgeries to have them removed at Nanjing Children’s Hospital.
Nanjing doctors told reporters for the South China Morning Post that the girl now suffers from dizziness and headaches. It has been revealed that the two villagers who were responsible for the weapon have been jailed for illegal possession of a firearm.
The gun was reportedly used on a regular basis to scatter birds.
The boy’s family has compensated ¥95,000 towards the girl’s medical bills. However, her family have now sunk into debt trying to come up with the rest of the operations’ costs which have totalled more than ¥200,000.
