"
By David Abel and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff, and Matthew P. Collette, Globe Correspondent
Dr. Charles Bizilj stood 10 feet behind his son this weekend at a ""Machine Gun Shoot"" in Westfield, where the third grader aimed an Uzi at a pumpkin in the distance.
Flier from Westfield Sportsman?s Club |
?It was all a blur,? Dr. Charles Bizilj said this afternoon in a telephone interview. ?I?m still in the grieving process.?
Christopher was accompanied by a trained professional as he held the 9-mm Micro Uzi machine gun at the Westfield Sportsman's Club Sunday afternoon, but Bizilj said he doesn?t think the shooting guide was holding the weapon as his son pressed the trigger.
?This accident was truly a mystery to me,? he said. ?This is a horrible event, a horrible travesty, and I really don?t know why it happened. I don?t think it?s relevant that he wasn?t holding the weapon.?
He said his son, a third grader who loved to hike and bike, had experience firing handguns and rifles. But he said this was the first time he had fired an automatic weapon.
""I gave permission for him to fire the Uzi,? Bizilj said. ?I watched several other children and adults use it. It?s a small weapon, and Christopher was comfortable with guns. There were larger machine guns with much more recoil, and we avoided those.?
Bizilj, the medical director of the emergency department at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs, Conn., said that his son was ?very cautious, very well trained, and very much enjoyed firing.?
When his son pressed the trigger Sunday, it was the first gun he had fired all day. ?It took about an hour to get there, and it was something he was looking forward to for months,? Bizilj said.
The annual Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo is a two-day event. Police are investigating whether the Westfield Sportsman?s Club and the group running the event were licensed. ?We haven?t confirmed whether either have been licensed,? said Westfield Police Lieutenant Hipolito Nuņez.
The sportsman's club boasted in an advertisement for the event posted on its website that the $5 entry fee was waived for children under age 16 and there was ""no age limit or licenses required to shoot machine guns.""
""It?s all legal & fun,"" the advertisement says. ""You will be accompanied to the firing line with a Certified Instructor to guide you. But You Are In Control ? ""FULL AUTO ROCK & ROLL.""
Shooting targets for the event included vehicles, pumpkins, and ""other fun stuff we can?t print here,"" according to the advertisement.
Christopher Bizilj was firing the weapon at an outside firing range and was wounded once in the head when the recoil forced the gun to rotate upward and backward, Nuņez said. The boy was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. He was pronounced dead at the hospital with one gunshot wound to the head. No one else was injured.
State law requires anyone under age 18 to have parental consent and a licensed instructor to fire an automatic weapon. Otherwise, there?s no minimum age to fire such a gun, Nuņez said.
?We do not know at this time the full facts of this incident, and it's being investigated,"" Nuņez said.
The event at the club was organized by C.O.P. Firearms & Training, an Amherst company that, according to its website, organizes machine gun shoots throughout New England. Officials from that group also could not be reached.
(David Molnar / The Republican of Springfield)
Devin Connery of Lunenburg, Mass., fired a Heckler & Koch UMP on Sunday at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman?s Club. This photograph was taken before 8-year-old Christopher Bizilj apparently lost control of an Uzi and shot himself in the head.
stupidity pure and simple.8 year old and uzi do not belong in the same sentence.
You know for every one kid of who dies from being shot at a gun show at least 100 children drown at swimming pool shows.
The father of that boy is responsible for his sons death. He will have to live with that kind of irresponsible behavior and the actions of that event for his entire life. That poor boy shouldn't have been using that gun or at an event like that.
Yeah, great idea, give an uzi to an 8 year old.
This is very sad, but his Dad is an I-D-I-O-T.
If this isn't crazy- what is? Why do we want children firing machine guns under any circumstances whatsoever?
What next, ""Rocket lanunchers, hand grenades, and bazookas- fun for the whole family! Grab the kids and come on down!""
Although it is my opinion that responsible age appropriate persons should
be allowed to join a gun club, that's where it should end. No child should be
allowed to shoot a weapon, especially one like the gun that killed that poor
child. To me, common sense has gone out the window in the past 20 years.
All the adults present at that tragedy to my mind, are in part responsible for
his ""accident."" I teach children of that age.....it's impossible for me to even
think about allowing a child to be around weapondry, much less allow a child
to target practice....
Sad. I understand the desire to shoot stuff, but this is why we need some rules and some restraint.
Yes, we have stupid rednecks in MA too.
my feelings are why would you let an 8 year old boy shoot an UZI Machine gun by his self . that is not very resposible for the father or the trainer.
First ! BOOM !!
What the hell kind of sportsman needs a machine gun?
It should be interesting to see how the gun lobby spins this one.
As much as they like to talk about responsible gun ownership and safety practices, when it comes right down to it, most of them are right on board with the ""FULL AUTO ROCK & ROLL"" mindset. Talk about your senseless tragedies. Raise your hand, who out there is wired to respond ""No"" immediately when asked by your eight year old if he can fire the Uzi? That kid was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong parent.
8 years old.
this is sickening ... to heart ... quit teaching kids to ""handle"" automatic weapons ... AK47's, etc. Or just let them have a 44 mag? Stricter controls over semiauto, auto weapons and large bore handguns are needed. What do you take when you go hunting for deer? A Uzi or autoweapon. No, you take a deer rifle, which makes sense. These ""street sweeper"" weapons have got to have SOME control. Condolences to the parents ...
NRA Heads! Read this article and try to explain why the ordinary Joe six-pack needs to have an assault rifle. Talk about the waste of a human life because NRA led gun heads want no bans on any sort of gun. Assault weapons? This is insane. What are you afraid of that an assault weapon would be needed in your house or community? Are you really that paranoid? Have you no common sense?
As big a tragedy as this is, I have to fault the parents. I'm sorry, but there is no way, no matter how much you love guns, that you allow a 8 year old to handle an Uzi.
But, of course, guns don't kill.
Organizers, the licenced instructor and the father should all be charged with child neglect. This should not be allowed to happen in a ""civilized"" country. I am so ashamed.
STUPID STUPID STUPID, SHOULD NEVER OF HAPPEND!!
The father is an M.D.! How would you like him working on you? Some judgment, huh? He should be charged at least with child endangerment.
No one without a valid gun license should be handling a gun, least of all a child. What if the child had injured or killed someone else? Think of the guilt the child would live with.
I agree ...an 8 year old and any kind of gun do not belong together! I don't care who you are or where you are from! Poor parenting...bottom line!
""State law requires anyone under age 18 to have parental consent and a licensed instructor to fire an automatic weapon""
Seriously? This is the law? Someone actually sat down, wrote that out and figured it made sense for someone as young as 8 to be able to fire an automatic weapon? God bless the NRA.
We need uzi's and automatic weapons though.......I mean really they are SO important to our livelihood, and the 2nd Amendment says we can have muskets...oops I mean full autos with cop killer bullets.......and the IQ and safety of gun fanatics is so good that we have nothing to worry about....and hey you never see criminals with those types of weapons....
""[The Second Amendment] has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word 'fraud,' on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.""
--- Former Chief Justice Warren Burger
An 8 year-old-boy with permission to shoot a UZI machine gun? This is absurd. This is unbelievable. This is warped. Maybe a 21-year-old can shoot with supervision. But not an 8-year-old. For God's sakes, what are they trying to prove by holding these shoot outs? I think we have training in the armed services if people really need to shoot something and kids can wait until their 18 to join. Other than that, keep weapons out of the kids' hands, and give them something creative to do with their hands other than pulling a trigger.
'gunsdont'killpeople'!!!
That is the most insipid, insensitive, non-sensical post i have ever read....swimming pools are not WEAPONS designed to kill people, as against UZIS whose only purpose is to kill and maim as many people as possible in the shortest time possible. Defintiely something you need for your 8 year old's next birthday.
As for you 'evidence' regardin swimming pool shows #!#...you probably mean ""drowning"" rather than a temporary exhibition of state of the art swimming pools.
you know how many millions of kids will die of preventable disease this year?
As someone who grew up with guns around and learned how to shoot at a young age (and learned gun safety and respect above all else) this is disturbing. It is a tragic accident no doubt, but anyone who lets an 8 year old fire full auto is going beyond negligence into an area that can only be described as criminal stupidity. At 8 years old you should be just stepping up to a .22, fired one shot at a time. This will be turned into an anti-gun crusade for sure, but that is totally missing the real issue. It's like giving a kid with a learner's permit the keys to a Ferarri and wondering how they got into an accident. My heart goes out to the family, and the Dad who has to live with this forever.
-M
Gunsdontkillpeople:
Nice moniker, try telling that to the parents of the deceased kid.
*Note the sarcasm here*
The father is an idiot. Automatic weapons do not belong in the hands of children. I believe in enjoying the shooting range with your children, but let's use some common sense. The father should be punished, on top of his grief. Not only did he endanger his child...he endangered others.
As someone who grew up with guns around and learned how to shoot at a young age (and learned gun safety and respect above all else) this is disturbing. It is a tragic accident no doubt, but anyone who lets an 8 year old fire full auto is going beyond negligence into an area that can only be described as criminal stupidity. At 8 years old you should be just stepping up to a .22, fired one shot at a time. This will be turned into an anti-gun crusade for sure, but that is totally missing the real issue. It's like giving a kid with a learner's permit the keys to a Ferarri and wondering how they got into an accident. My heart goes out to the family, and the Dad who has to live with this forever.
-M
tell me again why we need fully or semi-automatic weapons in the hands of the public?
and i agree, uzi plus an 8 year old is just radiantly stupid.
The organizers, the licenced instructor and the father should all be held accountable for this childs death. This should never happen in a ""civilized"" country. I am so ashamed.
Just another sad note about todays society. What ever would possess a parent to let an 8 year old hold an Uzi let alone pull the trigger. The gun has only one purpose and that is to kill and maim PEOPLE!. There isn't even an argument that the child was there because he hunts game like Daddy. Stupid, irresponsible parent, what other adjective can you find for such a parent.
I have no doubt the gun nuts out there will find some way to put a spin on this, but the fact is that there is no sane reason that an 8 year old should be shooting any type of gun. The father will live with his stupidity for the rest of his life and I can only hope that other parents will now think twice before letting their kids shoot guns.
Have 100 children drowned at ""swimming pool shows"" ? If someone did, would someone from the swimming pool lobby (if such a thing exists) try to argue against more safety and control?
And, that name ""Gunsdontkillpeople"" contradicts the story here where, in fact, a gun did kill a person.
Reply to gunsdon'tkillpeople ..... it appears that guns do kill people and dumb a.... fathers that allow an 8 yr old child to operate a fully automatic weapon. Where did you get your data on drownings of children at swimming pool ""shows""? Myself, I had never even heard of a swimming pool ""show""
I would hazard a response, along with everything else said and surely thought, that fully-automatic weapons should *never* be placed in the hands of *anyone* that cannot physically dominate them. I would compare it to a inexperienced fireman trying to hold on to the end of a high-pressure hose. Its going to be messy, especially if you don't have the ability to shut it off immediately. This was a tragedy that surely would have been prevented with some common sense. My heart goes out to the family for their loss.
Gun nuts. I grew up with these people, own a (single) gun myself, and STILL can't for the life of me understand their brains.
I think the writer of the grammatically incorrect, logically suspect second response in these comments provides a clue, however - they're MORONS.
I have a 7 yr old & a 14 yr old. I would NEVER let either of them fire a machine gun at a sportsman's club or anywhere else !!!
An absolutely ridiculous situation, this should never have happened, that poor boy's life was cut short simply due to the irresponsibility of other adults !!
It's not irresponsible for young children to learn how to use a gun. I used to work at an overnight summer camp ages 6-15, and riflery was one of the activities all campers got to enjoy. Parents had the option of opting their children out of the activity if they so chose, but none did. Being taught gun safety and usage is a lot better than kids finding a gun and not knowing what it can do and shooting somebody or themselves with it.
However, a child should only be given a firearm that matches their size. an Uzi is by far too powerful a weapon for a beginner gun user to be handling. Shame on the father and shame on the instructor for allowing something like this to happen.
Ok, so after reading this, we can't blame the father. He probably went thinking this was a family friendly, safely controlled event and he himself probably had no clue about guns, just trying to have a day out with his kid. What a shame, I would sue the crap out of the expo and do whatever I could to make sure these type of events aren't allowed. They even took credit cards, just trying to make money regardless of safety.
Hey there ""gunsdon'tkillpeople"" - Show me a link of someone dying at a swimming pool show. Pool shows - at least the couple I've seen.... you don't actually SWIM.
Yes people die in swimming pools. About 2000 a year. You get almost TWICE that number of people die from guns each year.... in just the 0-19 years old range.
Of course, swimming pools aren't designed to kill people, guns are, so I can understand that discrepancy. What a horrible tragedy to this family. My heart breaks for them.
I have to agree - firing an automatic weapon, even for adults, requires some training. An 8 year old boy is certainly not capable of the proper method of control when firing any automatic weapon. The ""certified instructor"" should not have even allowed this. This is exactly the kind of reckless behavior that the anti-gun crowd loves to use in order to justify gun control policies.
I've a comment on the comments. Just how many kids die from being shot at gun shows?
The stupidity belongs entirely on the father, no eight year old is responsible or capable to be able to control any type of mchine gun. Then again what do you expect from someone who has a middle eastern type name. (no gun LAWS)
""You know for every one kid of who dies from being shot at a gun show at least 100 children drown at swimming pool shows.""
Swimming pool shows? What is that?
And the gun DID kill the 8 year old. NOT a person. The gun got out of control in the 8 year old's hands, and shot him in the head.
Guns DO kill people!
Unreal. Owning a gun for protection is one issue that should not be compromised by idiots like these who always, always have tragic endings: hence why they are in the news. A life lost to ignorance.
Guns like anything take responsibility and proper usage. An 8 year old doesn't have the physical ability to control something like that full auto or the knowledge/training on how to do so.
Sadly this will be spun into an anti-gun argument. Rather than seeing the negligence involved.
this is tragedy!
how many kids are killed on thier bycicles each year? are we going to call for a ""ban"" on all kids bikes too?
how about falls from windows?
typical liberals blaming the guns!
lets let the family grieve and pray for them.
I work at a gun club 2 days a week where we have banned the use of full auto for numerous reasons. Safety is always first (we actually closed our ranges recently after storms left some limbs on just one of the ranges). Let's put the argument of this is the guns fault to rest - there was clearly poor supervision of an extreme minor handling a firearm that needs a GOVERNMENT BACKGROUND CHECK to own. The saftey officers and the gaurdian of the child should be sent to jail.
tell me again why we need fully or semi-automatic weapons in the hands of the public?
and i agree, uzi plus an 8 year old is just radiantly stupid.
This has got to be the dumbest country on earth.
The fact that the father of this child consented to let his 8 year old son fire an Uzi is incomprehensible to me. This is a senseless tragedy, and the saddest part is that it was totally avoidable if those involved had simply used better judgment. Rest in peace, Christopher.
hey hey NRA/ how many kids did you kill today?
8 years old is just too young!!!!--At our shoots--
we are so careful--- the range officers call the rules--im so sorry for the man's loss--but--weapons are capable of fast and deadly mistakes-and unless a owner has his hands at the ready--to grab and halt such a mishap --we do not allow the very young to handle full auto sub-guns.
How horrible and senseless. Why are children allowed at a gun show? Toy guns are bad enough. But real guns? What was that parent thinking?
Comment number two is either a terrible joke or seriously and tragically misguided.
Having experience with such firearms, I can confidently state that no civilian, regardless of age, has any business firing a fully automatic weapon. Although each of the parties involved, the host, the father, and the safety instructor, is to blame, we should not forget the Assault Weapons Ban that our current President inexplicably tore up.
How much innocent blood will be shed before this problem is addressed?
Wow, it's SUCH a good idea to invite families out to play with lethal weapons! I can totally understand why they say that guns don't kill people! It must have been the ""certified instructor"" that killed that kid, right? Or did he kill himself?
Why on earth does a child EVER need to know what it feels like to fire an UZI!!!???
...here's a good reason why atomatic weapons have no business being owned by private citizens...
Shouldn't the father have been able to assume that the instructor would be able to ensure the safety of his son, considering the advertisments? How could any responsible adult allow a child to handle that kind of loaded weapon without such an assurance?
This is a truly sad story about a father and his stupidity. This guy needs a license to own a gun, but not one to be a bad parent? Why would you ever let an 8 year old handle a gun, much less a FULLY AUTOMATIC gun? Of course, the democrats will now use this as their poster child for more gun control laws. I hate to politicize this tragic event, but you know the politicians will. Making guns illegal will only take them away from law-abiding citizens, not criminals. Most criminals don't buy their guns legally.
My father started teaching me about guns when I was 4. I can assure you that he would never have put a full-auto uzi pistol in my hands before I was prepared to handle such a weapon. The organizers should have known not to give a gun like that to a kid as well. They're tiny, lightweight and full auto, it's a no brainer. It's a shame and a great story for shock value, but lets face it, as a society, we've murdered an uncountable number of children in the middle east during our lust for oil, just for money and power.
To Gunsdon'tkillpeople: ""GUNS don't kill people??!!"" Well, this one apparently did! STUPID!!
That's because most people are not stupid enough to let an 8 year old fire a gun period, never mind a fully automatic machine gun. Guns do kill people and so do swimming pools....
I think your ratio is backwards there, Gunsdontkillpeople. This is insane. There are lots of things eight year old shouln't be doing and firing Uzis is one of them.
hey guns dont kill people... swimming pool shows? really?
I was there, about a foot or so behind the boy talking with my friend that was a range safety officer and looking at the boy when it happened. It was so unfortunate that people had to witness such a thing. It all happened so fast, I just keep thinking I'm glad it wasn't me who got hit with that bullet, being that I was less than 3 feet behind him. I agree that the range officers hands should have been on the gun. Now a child's life is gone, a family in pain and countless witnesses that saw what happened. Why wasn't there an ambulance present? Why was the 911 operator clueless as to the event even going on when I called? Those are questions I would like to see answered.
""Gunsdontkillpeople"", please cite your source for this statistic.
Terribly irresponsible of the organizers and the dad. I'd be really hesitant to put a semi-auto in the hands of an 8yo just in case they accidentally double tap but full auto? Stories like this give responsible gun owners a bad name.
Liz,
Nobody, especially a father that just watched his son die, needs someone like you replying to a news article like this one with such negativity... Things happen to this degree all over the world and somebody rubbing it in to try to sound like a smarty pants, well... it just isn't cool..;
Who lets a third grader handle a weapon?
Folks need to know how to respect the weapons they are handling, no third grader is going to understand that. Sad and pathetic across the board in CT.
Gunsdontkillpeople
can you back up that 'fact'? I doubt it. Sounds like you just made it up.
Though there are a lot of things I do like about here, depending on the election results, I may have to move back to Canada. Best country in the world.
""You know for every one kid of who dies from being shot at a gun show at least 100 children drown at swimming pool shows.
Posted by Gunsdontkillpeople October 27, 08 12:31 PM""
What adult would give an eight year old a loaded Uzi to fire? You're an idiot.
Guns don't kill people.
People... with guns... kill people.
Many more kids die from drowning accidents, but probably millions of kids are using pools, lakes, etc. I doubt that more than a handful of kids are firing machine guns. There ought to be a law against kids using any guns until they are around 15 or so. Hopefully, some common sense laws will come out of this needless tragedy.
As for the comment about guns don't kill people and swimming pool victims ... just plain stupid and callous! There is just no baseline for human stupidity. What is the beneficial learning experience of having an 8-year-old fire a machine gun...potential military career in 13 years, local varmint and deer hunting, armed community militia? Please, crawl back into your cave!
Letting kid fire Uzi is as dangerous as letting monkeys fly airplanes - ""We do not do this anymore since the 2001 Astana Air crash""
RU kidding GUNSDON'TKILLPEOPLE???? You have the nerve to write that stupid statistic after an eight year old is killed shooting off a FULLY AUTOMATED WEAPON? There is no excuse for a child of any age to be handling any type of weapon - let alone an UZI.
This is a tragedy that did not have to happen. It is wrong on so many levels.
If you have ever fired a firearm of any kind you know how powerful a recoil can be if you are not expecting it.
I think 8 years old is too young to be able to control the recoil of any firearm.
It's not like what you see in the movies where the weapon does not move in between shots.
I am not against firearms in any way, but I think there should be an age limit to fire a weapon.
One reason is to make sure the shooter has the strength to control the recoil and also to be old enough to understand that this is a real weapon and not a movie or TV prop.
Are you actually trying to make a joke about this? The misleading statistic you are trying to cite is that for every child murdered by a gun, there are 100 incidents of accidental drowning. I guess we'll have to worry about that as soon as people start carrying swimming pools around in their pockets.
Unfortunately, its incidents like this that give firearms a bad name. Firearms are safe if used by responsible citizens and by that I mean law abiding and trained individuals. Many kids die every day through the stupid actions of their parents.
swimming pool shows? not sure what you're trying to defend here. kids should not be playing with automatic weapons. it seems ridiculous that i would event have to write that. seems like common sense to me.
To gunsdontkillpeople:
swimming pool shows? So there is such a thing as swimming pool shows? where 100 kids have drowned? I know there is at least one gun advocate that attends gun shows that wishes he didn't. How does that poor father call the boy's mother? The supreme court will never take away your right to have a gun so why can't you stow your NRA rights and recognize this for the tragedy that it is... a young boy has died because NRA members cared more about the gun than the person pulling the trigger.
The usual NRA-bozo specious comparison....
Guns are killers, they kill thousands and thousands each year, and no amount of ignorance will change that fact. You can compare as much as you like. The fgun-obsession in the USA has already dented our democracy, because the gun-loving bozos (who needs a machine-gun at home, for god's sake) always vote for nazis for fear of losing their guns.
Here is a greater comprisn.... Bush has killed more people with his hallucinatory invasion of Iraq than guns kill in the USA.
WHY ???????????
#2. What a ridiculous analogy?.why?because maybe guns do kill people. The event has no redeeeming qualities to it what so ever
The Boy Scouts of America didn't let me shoot until I was twelve, and that was a single shot, bolt-action .22 rifle (almost no recoil), and a single shot, breech loaded .20 gauge shotgun (light recoil). A micro UZI, fully auto? The recoil of that gun will cause it to climb in the hands of an adult! They are lucky the kid didn't hit anyone else as the weapon kept firing. I am a gun owner, and I have one question: Where the hell is common sense? This is the stuff that drives me crazy. Complete stupidty by adults who should know better. The father and the club are both to blame and should face sanctions. This ignorance is inexcusable - most eight year olds can barely ride a bike...
""Police identify boy, 8, killed by Uzi at sportsmen's club "" The Globe wants to warn all of us parents about those Uzi-toting sportsmen clubs. But, seriously, after reading the article, Even if the event was as advertised, there was no excuse for such irresponsibility by the parent and the show organizers.. Speaking as a responsible gun-owner myself, what parent in his right mind would allow his child to handle such a powerful firearm?
I'm as pro-gun as you can get. I've spent years defending the constitution and joined the military, becoming an expert in several weapons. This is disgustingly irresponsible. That boy shouldn't have been firing that gun, at all, the father should have known better, and the staff should have known better. Gun safety doesn't just mean knowing how to handle a weapon, it's also about being physically able to do it. You work your way up the skill level, and supervision is critical with children. There is a huge difference between a single shot weapon and a fully automatic.
This is a terrible thing. That boy died for nothing. But it hurts me that even this article tried to go out of its way to villify the guns, and the concept of gun shows rather than to objectively report the news.
rather than to objectively report on the inci
Cold and simple. Guns are made with one intention. To kill. Guns do kill people. I see it and read it every day in the pages of this paper. To say that guns don't kill people is not only stupid, but irresponsible as well. If we called guns what they are (killing machines), and stripped away this bogus and archaic belief that we somehow make a tough situation ""safer"" by adding more guns we would all be better off. An 8 year old with an Uzi???? Unreal. Nice parenting. I would bet my life that this guy voted Bush twice.
I smell LAWSUIT.
You're right ""Guns don't kill people"", stupidity does and giving an eight year old a fully automatic weapon to shoot is just shear stupidity. Unfortunatily, it's impossible to legislate against stupidity directly. That's why there are laws to limit what you can do. Like erecting a fence around a swimming pool. Also, I don't know where you are from but I've never heard of a swimming pool show were these 100 kids are preported to have drowned. But I'm sure your made up statistic would be very comforting to the kids mother.
At NO POINT should a CHILD be able to use an automatic weapon, with or without parental approval or certified supervision. There is no reason a child needs to shoot an automatic weapon.
In response to the comment by 'Gunsdontkillpeople', perhaps you should read the article, guns do kill people.
Our legislators may not have the fortitude to stand up to the NRA, but they could at least make this sort of reckless child endangerment a punishable crime... this type of event should have a bit more control than an elementary school field trip to a museum... if allowed at all.
I've actually deleted most of my own post because in re-reading it, I realized the anger I felt was beyond rational expression and the limits of my vocabulary.
This sounds like a good advertisment for the NRA!!!!
This is unreal. I would NEVER let my son hold a gun at that age. Furthermore, while I respect the right to bear arms, there are no guns in my household and will never be unless we have a REAL threat. You hear that, W.?
what you want to bet that the father files a lawsuit? just like the gun show, it's the American way!
This is a sad day for both the family and the sportsman's club.. It is true, guns don't kill, people do. Unfortunetly this child accidently took his own life because he was givin too much responsibilty at this young of an age. There are plenty of children that are skilled shooters at 8 years old. 8 Year olds hunt and target shoot with supervision all over the country. I support all gun rights but with those rights comes responsibility. If a parent wants his/her child to try something as extreme as fully automatic weapons the parent should have never taken his hands off the weapon. Regardless of who is at fault, no parent should have to bury a child and I am so sorry to hear about this.
How irresponsible to allow an 8 year old to shot a gun. Can't father think of things to do with their chidren that are not dangerous. The father did not shoot the kid, but he used poor judgment.
Both parents and gun show need to be held accountable for their reckless behavior. I'm all for teaching young people gun safety, but uzi's for 8 year old is beyond the pale. Really, there is no viable excuse here.
Elizabeth: As tragic as the boys death is, the reality is that people die from all sorts of mishaps. The leading cause of death for children 5 - 9 yrs old is auto accidents. Playing sports, riding bikes to include motorcycles, hunting, fishing, swimming, etc are all fun and healthy activities. Despite safeguards and warnings, however, a few are seriously or fatally injured. Firearms training is a good thing. But, as in this case, bad things can happen. While I am sure the father will second guess the events of that day for the rest of his life, I think we should wait to judge the value and overall safety of such events until all the facts are disclosed.
I've never heard of a child drowning at a swimming pool show. I hope that comment was meant to be an ironic reference to an old NRA saw. . .
Before any other gun people jump in with uncited statistics about the number of kids who die annually from drowning in the bathtub, I would like to point out that bathtubs are used by far more children than are uzis or are other firearms, and more importantly, bathtubs are not implements solely designed to murder people.
My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to Christopher's wonderful, caring, responsible family. Their son was accompanied to the firing line by a Certified Instructor to guide him. Accidents, unfortunately, happen.
Hey ""gunsdontkillpeople"", do you have any statistics to prove your idiotic statement. I cannot believe how stupid you are. I've never even heard of a ""swimming pool show"" you moron. That's like saying plane crashes don't kill people, the ground does. What a dope. I'm willing to bet that last week the kid's father would have had no problem making the same ""Gun's don't kill people"" statement. You think he's saying it today?! This is a clear cut case of negligent manslaughter in my book. Everyone in the gun club that arranged this event is responsible, as is the boy's father, and they should pay the price.
It was BB guns for me at that age, then 22s when I hit about 12. There is no way my dad would have let me near an uzi as a kid and my dad is a very avid gun collector. It seems like both the dad and the people ""supervising"" are at fault here, a gun that powerful should not have been in the hands of an 8 year old. Lesson learned, the hard way.
Another life lost to senseless gunfire. Good job, NRA. Never understood the draw to shooting a gun - of all things. What's the big excitement? I went shooting once or twice and the first 5 minutes are fun, then what...
The gun club should never have put minors in a position to handle such a weapon. This is not ""weekend warrior"" type of armament.
I am a law enforcemnet officer in the state of MA, and can tell you that it takes many, many hours to master proper handling and technique for such complex, high-powered devices. Shame on all those who gave that boy the option to ultimately stand at the firing line. And God bless the boy - he didn't deserve such stupidity and negligence.
To Gunsdontkillpeople:
I would like to see proof of your statement that there have been 100 children drowned at swimming pools shows. (Or even proof one has this year.) A quick internet search turned up no references to any accidental drowning at swimming pool shows. However, a quick search did turn up several other accidental shootings at gun shows including one as recent as October 14. (A man shot another man in the foot.)
As for the sensibility of allowing an 8 year old to shoot an Uzi, how dumb can people get? Legal or not it sounds like a bad idea to me. If a person wants to join a gun club and be trained to shoot properly, power to them. But to allow untrained children to fire powerful Uzi submachine gun is just asking for problems. The father will have to live with his poor choice and so will EVERYONE else involved. Imagine if that child had shot someone else as well?
There are gun control laws for a reason, and just because it was a show does not excuse anyone. If I took my kid to a Scotch tasting show I certainly would not allow them to drink just to see what it tastes like. If the laws allow children to shoot Uzis, then the law needs to be changed.
Being the father of three my heart goes out to the family of the boy. His dad will have to live with that the rest of his life. It's the circumstances of the boy's death that will spur debate and most likely vitriol from both sides. Kids die everyday; swimming, on athletic fields, on bikes, walking on railroad tracks but in the majority of those cases its kids being kids. I don't have guns in my house and would like to keep them from my youngest. I don't however believe it is my place to tell someone else how to raise their kids. Learning to shoot safely is one thing but a SMG only has one purpose, to kill other humans.
Hey, #2. Pools dont kill people -- water does. Did the kid actually need bullets in the gun? Would giving an 8 year old blanks have damaged the Second Amendment? We know, its more important to protect gun rights than it is to protect children.
And by the way ""gunsdontkillpeople"" I think its the other way around. For every 100 innocent bystanders on the street or at a school or gun show that get killed BY GUNS, one might drown in a pool accidentally.
How is shooting an Uzi a sport?
Not only will this father live with this the rest of his life, but the range instructor and all those who witnessed it. All for the thrill of firing a machine gun...and don't give me any lines about this child dying doing what he loved either...he was doing something to please the adults he was with...may they remember this forever.
Ah, land of the brave and home of the free, or whatever. Motherhood, apple pie, children and automatic weapons. Thank God we're a free* people.
An 8 year old was allowed to handle and shoot a defective SMG and it killed him. So much for the ""guns don't kill people"" argument.
I played catch in the yard with my son this weekend. As a result he'll be attending school this week. Unfortunately Christopher will not. Was his father to blame, not really. He was an idiot for giving permission but had he known what the outcome would be he wouldn't have. This is the saddest of all stories and his father will punish himself to the grave. Can you imagine making that call to the mom afterward.
Please don't insult us with these phony stats about children drowning in bathtubs. He was firing a weapon that was designed only to kill humans. Only a cretin would suggest this is somehow acceptable by comparison.
Guns protect people from the NRA
mark,
For the same reason we have sports cars. The number of accidents from firearms are a fraction of the accidents from cars.
I guess having a fun day on the range isn't in your vocabulary?
I also look at it as an investment. The last 'assault weapon ban' saw prices sky rocket. The idea that the next president might come up with another gun control law might come up in the future is my reason I bought 100 ""assault rifles"" this year and will possibly buy more in November/December. Prices should shoot up once a ban is on the horizon then I can sell them and make a mighty profit (probably on the order of $50,000). If a ban doesn't come up in a few years, I should still be able to sell them on the market for about what I paid for them now.
Jacob
The father should be charged.
If this is the real deal, then the father and the licensed instructor are to blame. To those who look to an incident as a reason for increased gun control, consider that there are many ways young children can accidentally maim or kill themselves, and that the underlying issue here isn't about the means, it's about responsible child supervision. It's irresponsible to blame guns. With a parent like this, it's not hard to imagine, had this not occurred, that the child would have gone home and stuck a paperclip in an electrical outlet the following day (note: children reading this - do not stick a paperclip in an electrical socket!!!) Just use your head!
I'm not sure the lot of you should feel good about yourselves commenting on this as if your opinion in a public forum is meaningful in any way in respect to a young boy losing his life in a tragic accident. You all should get a life and the Globe should, for its part, not allow comments on columns such as these.