A pregnant woman was shot in the face by her four-year-old son after the youngster found a loaded, unsecured gun under a mattress, US authorities have said.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has filed a lawsuit in the US to block legislation that places new restrictions on guns in Florida.

Gun owners are preparing to fight proposed changes to the law despite Garda warnings of a mass shooting without tighter control on firearms.

Every time someone runs amok in an American school or university campus, or even an idyllic Norwegian holiday island or a quiet Scottish border town, killing at random but for no obvious purpose, one simple truth is underlined: