An eight-year-old girl has become America’s latest shooting victim.

Less than a week after President Barack Obama spoke passionately in support of gun control after a shooting at an Oregon college left 13 dead, an eight-year-old girl has become America’s latest shooting victim.

According to reports, Maykayla Dyer, from the small community of White Pine in Tennessee, was found “on the ground suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest” on Saturday evening. The child was rushed to hospital where she was later pronounced dead.

The disturbing element of this story is that the shooter is believed to be an 11-year-old boy. While no official details have been released about the incident, according to witnesses he and Maykayla had argued briefly over a puppy before she was shot.

Television reports say that the boy was known to Maykayla and that he asked to see her puppy, but she refused. He later shot her from inside his neighbouring house, with a witness saying that he took aim before firing his father's 12 gauge shotgun. Reports say that the boy has been taken into custody and charged with first degree murder. An upcoming hearing will determine whether he should be charged as an adult.

There are no reports adding information about the child, his family or the circumstances under which he came to have access to a gun.

Local residents of the town are describing the incident as “heartbreaking”, with the principal of the school attended by both children saying that “our normal has changed” and that it’s not just the school that is hurting, it’s the whole community.

Bill Walker said that the school will “remember (Maykayla’s) smile and her beautiful face.”

This child losing her life has left a close-knit community in shock. It will add further weight to the argument for tougher gun control laws in America.

After President Obama’s emotional, finger-pointing speech last week, Hillary Clinton has unveiled her own gun control plan, which would restrict gun sales and make it possible for victims of gun crime to sue weapons manufacturers. The Presidential hopeful’s goal is to make it more difficult for the irresponsible, the criminal and the mentally ill to have access to guns.

However, the entire country is not on her side. News outlets such as Fox Media point to Australia, with its tight gun control, as being a country with “no freedom”. One talk show host described how Australians “go to prison for expressing unpopular views” and continues to press the notion that a country with no guns would be “scary”.

The tragic incident in White Pine highlights America as a country in crisis when it comes to the issue of guns. But while a country tries to decide what’s right, a family and a community mourn for a lost little girl who should not have died.