[altmf]

This is an associated press article but I doubt it made headlines outside of Massachusetts, even though it was front page nationwide when it happened:


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — A gun club and a police chief whose company sponsored a gun show have been indicted for involuntary manslaughter in the death of an 8-year-old Connecticut boy who accidentally shot himself with an Uzi.

Pelham Police Chief Edward Fleury owns the COP Firearms & Training, which sponsored the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo last month at the Westfield Sportsman's Club. The club and two other men, Carl Guiffre of Hartford, Conn., and Domenico Spano, of New Milford, Conn., also were indicted on involuntary manslaughter charges. It was not immediately clear the role Guiffre and Spano played in the boy's death.

Christopher Bizilj (bah-SEAL') of Ashford, Conn., lost control of the 9mm micro submachine gun as it recoiled while he was firing at a pumpkin. He was attending the show with his older brother and father, who was standing 10 feet behind the boy preparing to take a photograph when the child fired the weapon.

"A Micro Uzi is made by and for the Israeli Armed Forces and is intended to meet the operational needs of Israeli Special Forces," Hampden District Attorney William Bennett said in a news release. "It is not a hunting weapon. It has a rate of fire of 1,700 rounds per second."

Fleury and the club also were indicted on four counts each of furnishing a machine gun to a minor. Fleury, Guiffre and Spano did not immediately return calls for comment. A man who answered the phone at the club said he was a member; he refused to identify himself and said no one wanted to talk.

The machine gun shoot drew hundreds of people to the sporting club's 375-acre compound. An advertisement said it would include machine gun demonstrations and rentals and free handgun lessons. "It's all legal & fun — No permits or licenses required!!!!" reads the ad, posted on the club's Web site."You will be accompanied to the firing line with a Certified Instructor to guide you. But You Are In Control — "FULL AUTO ROCK & ROLL," the ad said.

The ad also said children under 16 would be admitted free, and both adults and children were offered free .22-caliber pistol and rifle shooting.

Christopher's father, Charles Bizilj, has said his son had experience firing handguns and rifles but the gun show was his first time with an automatic weapon. A certified instructor was with the boy at the time. The family did not immediately return a call for comment.

_____________________________________________

I just thought I would share that and we all could breathe a sigh of relief. It's very surprising to me that this type of event was allowed in my state considering our ridiculous firearm laws. I'm still learning them as I go. I've learned quite a bit from here already.

[JiroZero713]

Justice? Sounds like more cannon fodder for anti-gunnis


Father should be ashamed though. Stupid ****

[johnsteele]

Originally Posted by JiroZero713

Justice? Sounds like more cannon fodder for anti-gunnis


Father should be ashamed though. Stupid ****

Father should be charged.

[JiroZero713]

Originally Posted by johnsteele

Father should be charged.

True but isn't losing his son because of his stupidity going to scar the bum for life?

Either way guy is worthy of the Darwin Award.

[Hoplophile]

Originally Posted by altmf

"It is not a hunting weapon. It has a rate of fire of 1,700 rounds per second."

Wow, that is one FAST rate of fire!

Assuming you buy ammo in bulk at 20 cents a round, you'd blow $340 per second holding down that trigger! Ouch.

Of course if the magazine holds 40 or 50 rounds, it would be empty in three hundredths of a second or less. No wonder the poor kid had trouble controlling the recoil.

Methinks District Attorney William Bennett has his facts wrong.

[bkt]

It was a terrible mistake, the father was the irresponsible one, and law suits like this beget other more frivolous law suits. Dad has to live with his error in judgment for the rest of his life.

Let it go.

[Mark F]

Originally Posted by bkt

It was a terrible mistake, the father was the irresponsible one, and law suits like this beget other more frivolous law suits. Dad has to live with his error in judgment for the rest of his life.

Let it go.

I agree. It was sad, stupid, and severely negligent. But let it go.

[rfield]

Originally Posted by Hoplophile

Wow, that is one FAST rate of fire!

Assuming you buy ammo in bulk at 20 cents a round, you'd blow $340 per second holding down that trigger! Ouch.

Of course if the magazine holds 40 or 50 rounds, it would be empty in three hundredths of a second or less. No wonder the poor kid had trouble controlling the recoil.

Methinks District Attorney William Bennett has his facts wrong.

1700 per minute would be more accurate.

[Dillinger]

Hampden District Attorney William Bennett said in a news release. "It is not a hunting weapon. It has a rate of fire of 1,700 rounds per second."

Yet another nit-wit making statements they know NOTHING about. 1,700 rounds a second? Really?! Do you realize what that would take? Moron. The Dillon M134, a six barreled, electronically driven, vehicle mounted machine gun is rated to fire 3,000 rounds in a minute. And that is one of the fastest shooting weapons on the planet.

Then because he has some title before his name, that makes it an "official" statement" and suddenly it's God's honest truth.

To the DA I have this advice: Go swallow a box of razor blades and do us all a favor.

JD

[altmf]

Forget the lawsuit, all of the "responsible parties" involved should be sent upstate for their crap decision to let an 8 year old handle an uzi. Especially the police chief who sponsored the whole thing.

If I remember correctly from the first article the father is a doctor. I could be assuming wrong but doctors should be a little smarter than this, unless of course he's only a proctologist. That would explain why he had his head up his procto though.

I don't know about the judges in Westfield, MA but the judges over here in my city are ridiculous when it comes to any violent crime esp. when it involves handguns. Gun-toting drug dealers walk on $1000 bail every other day here. It's enough to make you think that the way of the vigilante is the only way to go.

Hopefully they all get what they deserve. As far as the father goes, he's going to be burned out having to live with the thought of where his actions have landed him.