Boy, 8, Shoots Self With Uzi at Gun Show

[bryang]

Another tradject incident.... an 8 year old boy shot himself with an Uzi???

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,444180,00.html

WESTFIELD, Mass. — 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 Valliere said.

The boy was with a certified instructor and "was shooting the weapon down range when the force of the weapon made it travel up and back toward his head, where he suffered the injury," a police statement said. Police called it a "self-inflicted accidental shooting."

The victim was taken to Baystate Medical Center where he died. His name was not released.

Although the death appears to be an accident, police and the Hampden district attorney's office were investigating, officials said.

The club said on its Web site that the event, run in conjunction with C.O.P Firearms and Training, is "all legal and fun." People will be allowed to fire weapons at vehicles, pumpkins and other targets, it said.

Officials with the private club and the firearms group could not be reached for comment. A message left on a club answering machine was not returned. The C.O.P. group's machine clicked off without taking a message.

The sportsman's club was founded in 1949 and describes itself on its Web site as an organization that promotes "the interest of legal sport with rod, gun, and bow and arrow, both directly and through training."

It has eight firing ranges as well as archery and fishing facilities located on 375 acres in Westfield, about 100 miles west of Boston.

[G.C.Montgomery]

My gut reaction is to suspect gross negligence on the part of the "certified instructor."

[HighVelocity]

Prayers for the family of the boy.


Whichever parent was in charge of the boy and thought that him firing a full auto weapon was a good idea is going to have to live with the consequences of that (poor) decision.

[bryang]

That was my thought...where was this "certified instructor?" He should of known what would happen. I can not believe anyone would give an 8 year old an Uzi, fully loaded, to begin with. What happen to starting children out with a single shot .22?

Prayers for the family,
-geo

[flintknapper]

That was my thought...where was this "certified instructor?" He should of known what would happen. I can not believe anyone would give an 8 year old an Uzi, fully loaded, to begin with. What happen to starting children out with a single shot .22?

Prayers for the family,
-geo

An extremely poor decision by all involved.

IMO, the "average" eight year old should not be allowed to fire a fully automatic weapon until that child is COMPLETELY aware of how the weapon functions and what the recoil attributes of the weapon are. In fact, this should apply to anyone (regardless of age).

We don't know what model Uzi was used or how many rounds were in the magazine, but it is a certainty that anything over 6 rounds is going to result in muzzle rise that an eight year old is not going to be familiar with.

A normal half second burst would put out about 7-8 rounds. You know darn good and well that an enthusiastic 8 yr. old is going to pull the trigger and hold it down! No big surprise then...that "Muzzle Climb" took over and resulted in the tragedy we read about here today.

A classic case of: Too Much gun for Too Young a shooter with Too Little thought given to the consequences.

What a shame.

Prayers for the family.

[Keith B]

+1 from me. Very sad situation that should have been avoided.

[The Annoyed Man]

Given that the gun was clearly out of control, as sad as this case is, it is darn lucky that nobody else got shot too. What a mess.

[KBCraig]

What a horrible thing for everyone involved.

Uzi recoil is negligible, even for many 8 year olds (but certainly not all).

Muzzle rise alone can't account for this tragedy. The shoulder stock also had to slip out of place; even a small, short SMG can have too long a pull for an 8 year old.

The Uzi has a grip safety. You can't fire it while trying to turn loose of it.

I know I've cautioned against speculation in other threads, but in trying to figure out how this could have happened, I speculate that the boy lifted his head away from the recoil, letting the buttstock drop, while trying to hang on to the grip (keeping the safety depressed), and the gun pivoted right around his hand until he was shot.

How to assign blame? Wow. I wouldn't blame a parent who knows little or nothing about firearms, if that was the case. I definitely wouldn't absolve a "safety expert" who didn't keep hands on the kid. There might be more blame for both, depending on their experience and actions at the time.

Terrible thing.

Meanwhile in neighboring NH, a fundraising MG shoot went off without a hitch:
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx ... e10f541930" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AEA]

Another case of an "Expert" who was "Professional" enough to oversee children handling a weapon too powerful for them to control.

Very sad.

[aardwolf]

That's a gun show like NASCAR is a car show.

[bryang]

UPDATE: Criminal Charges Possible in Boy's Gun Show Uzi Death

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,444510,00.html

BOSTON — A prosecutor said Tuesday he is investigating whether criminal charges should be filed after an 8-year-old boy accidentally killed himself while firing an Uzi submachine gun at a gun fair in western Massachusetts.

Christopher Bizilj of Ashford, Conn., shot himself in the head when he lost control of the 9mm micro submachine gun as it recoiled while he was firing at a pumpkin. Police have said the shooting at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman's Club on Sunday was an accident.

Hampden County District Attorney William Bennett said he is investigating whether the gun fair violated the state's firearms law by allowing the boy to fire the machine gun, and also whether it was "a reckless or wanton act to allow an 8-year-old to use a fully loaded automatic weapon."

"At this point in the investigation I have found no lawful authority which allows an 8-year-old to possess or fire a machine gun," Bennett said in a statement.

Daniel Vice, senior attorney with the Washington-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said his interpretation is that Massachusetts law specifically prohibits "furnishing a machine gun to any person under 18."

On Monday, Westfield police Lt. Hipolito Nunez said it is legal in Massachusetts for children to fire a weapon if they have permission from a parent or legal guardian and they are supervised by a properly certified and licensed instructor.

The section of the statute that mentions that exception, however, only lists rifles, shotguns and ammunition — and is silent on the use of machine guns.

Bennett did not return calls Tuesday seeking additional comment.

The boy was attending the gun fair with his father and brother Colin, a sixth-grader. His father, Charles Bizilj, said Christopher had experience firing handguns and rifles, but Sunday was his first time firing an automatic weapon. A certified instructor was with the boy at the time.

On Monday, Bizilj told The Boston Globe he was about 10 feet behind his son and reaching for his camera when the weapon fired. He said his family avoided larger weapons, but he let his son try the Uzi because it's a small weapon with little recoil. The family did not return messages for comment Tuesday.

Francis Mitchell, a trustee and longtime member and shooting range officer for the sportsman's club, declined comment Tuesday, saying he was unaware that a criminal investigation was under way.

Edward Fleury, owner of COP Firearms & Training, which co-sponsored the event, did not immediately return a message left after business hours.

The Republican newspaper of Springfield reported Tuesday night that the town of Pelham, where Fleury has been police chief since 1991, took undisclosed administrative action after he discharged a loaded rifle during a gun safety class he was teaching in 2003. No one was injured, and Fleury said in a public apology he would take steps to prevent similar incidents.

Pelham selectman Edward Martin told the newspaper Tuesday the board plans to issue a statement to residents this week pointing out that Fleury was at the gun expo on his own time. Martin called Bizilj's death "a tragic accident."

Fleury's company and the sportsman's club have held the expo since 2002. The newspaper said Fleury described it in a 2005 interview as a safe environment for people "to see and fire some of the guns that they've seen in the movies, or on the History Channel, or other events that involve firearms."

Video from Fox:
http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.h ... 10,00.html

-geo

[HighVelocity]

Thanks for the video link. I was mentally prepared for a barrage of anti-gun sentiment but for a primetime news report, it was very unbiased and not anti-gun at all imho.

Edited to add: I cringe at the thought of what Nacy Grace is going to do when she gets hold of this story.

[flintknapper]

Thanks for the video link. I was mentally prepared for a barrage of anti-gun sentiment but for a primetime news report, it was very unbiased and not anti-gun at all imho.

Edited to add: I cringe at the thought of what Nacy Grace is going to do when she gets hold of this story.

Liberal's and anti's have not been as venomous this election year (maybe they are learning).

It will be "business as usual" after the elections, you may be sure of that.

[flintknapper]

.

Uzi recoil is negligible, even for many 8 year olds (but certainly not all).

By comparison, this is true...many other full auto weapons are more difficult to control, but there is recoil and muzzle rise associated with this weapon.

Muzzle rise alone can't account for this tragedy. The shoulder stock also had to slip out of place; even a small, short SMG can have too long a pull for an 8 year old.

We are not told the model (as I posted earlier). Some Uzi models do not have a shoulder stock and it would be quite easy to for the weapon to rotate about the axis of the wrist.

The Uzi has a grip safety. You can't fire it while trying to turn loose of it.

Clearly the child was not trying to "turn loose of it". A normal reaction to regaining control of something you are holding is to "grip it tighter". Anyone here that has used a 1/2" drill and had the bit bind, will tell you the smart thing to do is "let go", instead....we all (me included) grab it tighter and generally end up paying the price. IMO, the same thing happened here (only much quicker).

It is irresponsible (at best) to allow anyone to shoot any weapon they are not familiar with, without first explaining to them the proper procedures...and telling what to expect in terms of recoil, muzzle blast, etc...

In this case, neither the Father, nor the "Instructor" were even within arms reach of the Lad. This was a recipe for disaster from the very start.

IMO, this boy was too young to be handling this type of weapon. I know folks will argue that they themselves (or their children) were started shooting at this age or younger. I do not put a minimum age on shooting but I do require that the person be capable of abstract thought, be able to understand and follow directions, and be personally and immediately supervised (a competent person there...hands on). At least one element of that was missing here.

[bryang]

I agree with your analysis completely. I can not believe the father was 10 feet behind him messing with a camera!! and I don't know where the "expert' was. Someone should have been right there with him and helping him. I shot a .22 for a long time before my dad bought me a shotgun...and that was only a 410! single shot!

-geo