Furious beyond words.

[gridlore]

Boy, 8, killed in Mass. gun show accident

An 8-year-old boy died after accidentally shooting himself in the head while firing an Uzi submachine gun under adult supervision at a gun fair.

The boy lost control of the weapon while firing it Sunday at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman's Club, police Lt. Lawrence Vallierpratte said.

Police said the boy, Christopher Bizilj (Bah-SEAL) of Ashford, Conn., was with a certified instructor and called the death a "self-inflicted accidental shooting."

As the boy fired the Uzi, "the front end of the weapon went up with the backfire and he ended up receiving a round in his head," police Lt. Hipolito Nunez said. The boy died at a hospital.

The boy's father and older brother were also there at the time, a gun club member and school official said. Francis Mitchell, a longtime member and trustee of the club, said he was told the boy's father was supporting his son from behind when the shooting happened.

Although the death appeared to be an accident, officials were investigating.

It is legal in Massachusetts for children to fire a weapon if they have permission from a parent or legal guardian and are supervised by a properly certified and licensed instructor, Lt. Hipolito Nunez said. The name of the instructor helping the boy was not released.

Ladies & Gentlemen, years ago, when I was a young infantryman who did 50+ push ups a day, could climb a 40' free hanging rope, and regularly wandered around Fort Benning carrying an 80lb rucksack, I fired an Uzi SMG.

I could barely control the muzzle climb on the freaking thing. Even with the stock extended, good traction on both the pistol grip and foregrip, three solid points of support, the muzzle bucked up with a five-round burst.

What the HELL was anyone thinking allowing an EIGHT-YEAR-OLD to even handle a loaded Uzi? GUNS ARE NOT TOYS, EVEN TO THOSE OF US WHO HAVE FUN SHOOTING THEM!!!! And letting him rip off at full auto? This goes beyond idiocy and right into criminal homicide. Poor Christopher never had a chance. If you've never fired a fully-automatic weapon, your first instinct when it starts bucking and shaking in your hand is to hold on tighter, which means the trigger stays depressed, and recoil bucks the barrel up. With an eight year old's upper arm strength, that weapon came right around with his finger still on the trigger.

Dear old dad should have been holding his son's hands. The instructor should have had the kid fire from a bench rest with a weight on the weapon. Or maybe, just maybe, somebody in that building should have said "this isn't a good idea" and sent them to a weapon on a tripod. (I've seen little kids fire those. All the "wow factor" with non of the problems.)

Should Kirsten and I ever make it up to Oregon for the Full-Auto Shoot, I will make sure that she can handle what she shoots. I do the same for myself.

Pity no one did it for Christopher Bizilj

Comments

[deyo.livejournal.com]

Start with one round in the clip. If the kid keeps the barrel on target after one round, I give him another shot with a three round clip. If he's still on target after three, I give him a goddamned medal, because sure as hell *I* couldn't do that.

[taschoene.livejournal.com]

Even "better", the gun the kid was shooting was actually a Micro-Uzi, which has three times the RoF and only two thirds the weight to help manage it.

[lysana.livejournal.com]

Head, meet desk. Desk, meet head.

Wow, that's some dent.

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

I agree with the large chunks of instructor stupidity.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I am so glad my family -- which hunted a lot and had lots of rifles and shotguns about the house -- drummed it into my and my sister's head from an early age that guns are not toys and that they are dangerous tools that can kill you if you misuse them. That it, they're just like any number of dangerous-if-misused pieces of equipment around my grandparents' farm where I was growing up. And in my case, they started us with pellet guns and worked up to bigger stuff gradually as we proved we could handle them.

OTOH, the biggest lesson in firearm safety I ever got was learned the hard way at about age 15 or thereabouts, when I accidentally let go with both barrels of a 12-gauge shotgun (I only intended to fire one) with the weapon not properly grounded against my shoulder. After a *discontinuity* I found myself flat on my back with a very sore shoulder. Thank Ghod I didn't kill anyone around me (at least I knew not to point the weapon near people; however, the crazy wild shot could have gone anywhere as I went tumbling), nor did I break my collarbone. Both were possibilities. I was far more careful thereafter.

[caerbannogbunny.livejournal.com]

Maybe not at age 8, but at 13 or 14 I could keep an automatic down. It's in the technique and the training. This was a failure to do both and to supervise. That kid shouldn't have had an automatic weapon without someone who knew what they were doing standing there with their hand on the kids back and the other ready to push the gun down in case what actually happened happened.

The fact no one--even the father--did is practically Darwinian in it's results.

[claidheamhmor]

That's really sad. Poor kid.

I have a post coming shortly about a weapons misadventure here...

[(Anonymous)]

It's been all over the news here (well before the power went out last night) It's a damn shame. I really wish they would file criminal charges on the father. I know he's suffering but what a flipping idiot! I do not want him roaming free in my world thankyouverymuch.

I remember 30 years ago listening to the endless lectures (which was probably a ten minute speech) of my dad carefully showing me how to shoot a single shot .22 with a peep sight, carefully drawing out on paper what I'd be seeing, how to hold a half breath. (we never got into the firing between heartbeats though)

Through the years we progressed from rifle to pistol to semi automatic to shotgun (shotgun was my Easter present when I was in Highschool.)

All it takes is a parent willing to first understand themselves that these things are just as dangerous as they are fun, and they need respect and caution to make sure all involved have a good time.

I have no tolerance for people like this guy, and for hunters who refuse to imagine what is BEHIND their kill should they somehow not make the target.

[jarlsberg71.livejournal.com]

crap, that anonymous one was me. dame livejournal logout thingy.