October 29th, 2008
I meant to post on this incident yesterday but didn’t get to it. An 8-year-old boy at a machine gun shoot event shot himself and died of his wounds. Obviously tragic, it isn’t clear to me how both the father (who was right there) and the range safety officer could have let this happen.
I’ve not been to one of these public-type machine gun events, but I guess I wouldn’t think they’d let little kids shoot them. And a little light weapon like an Uzi, with less mass to absorb the kick and a shorter barrel to more quickly point in a bad direction seems like it would probably be even more dangerous for a little shooter than a larger weapon.
Regardless, the father blew it big. I’m sure he knows it, too. I can’t imagine that.
Meanwhile: DA: criminal charges possible in boy’s Uzi death
Hampden County District Attorney William Bennett said Tuesday he hasn’t been able to find any law that would authorize a child to possess or fire a machine gun.
I thought laws were limits, as in: Shouldn’t he be looking for laws precluding a child to possess or fire a machine gun?
Of course, there’s this:
In response to this tragedy, Freedom States Alliance (FSA), a national coalition of gun violence prevention groups along with the New England Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence (NECPGV), are calling for legislation to be passed immediately that would require that no child under the age of 18-years-old be allowed to use or operate any fully automatic machine gun, or semi-automatic assault weapon under any circumstances including at a “machine gun shoot,” shooting competition or firearm demonstration.
Maybe I missed something. Was there any gun violence involved? If not, what are they doing getting in the mix?
More info and discussion at Alphecca.
Tags: MA
