<p>possibly the most senseless gun death I have ever read about, dear God I don’t get the appeal of guns (and yes, I do know that every once in a blue moon a homeowner or store person shoots someone rightfully in self defense)…</p>
<p>excerpt:
A police chief was indicted on Thursday for involuntary manslaughter in the death of an 8-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself in the head with an Uzi submachine gun at a Massachusetts weapons show.</p>
<p>Christopher Bizilj lost control of the weapon on October 26 at the Machine Gun Shoot & Firearms Expo in Westfield, about 100 miles west of the state capital Boston, police said.</p>
<p>Pelham Police Chief Edward Fleury, owner of COP Firearms & Training that co-sponsored the event, faces another four counts of furnishing a machine gun to someone under age 18.</p>
<p>The boy’s father was 10 feet behind the boy with a camera as his son fired the weapon.</p>
<p>There are an estimated 250 million privately owned guns in the United States, which has a population of about 300 million. About 30,000 Americans a year die from gun wounds.</p>
<p>Please don’t spread such misinformation… No, it most definitely is not illegal for civilians to own automatic firearms, supressors, etc. All thats required is a $200 tax stamp and a sign-off from local law enforcement. Obviously, some states are much better than others in this regard, but there are no federal prohibitions on ownership of automatic weapons that were manufactured prior to 1986. </p>
<p>And the prohibition on civilians owning automatic weapons produced after 1986 (the so-called Hughes Amendment to the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986) was added late at night when many congressmen were absent and passed by an uncounted “voice vote” - can anyone say “illegal”?</p>
<p>And on the matter the OP posted… well its ridiculous. Again, people want to place blame where it is not deserved. The kid’s father was right behind the child taking a picture for gods sake! It was his responsibility to make sure that his son was safe - a responsibility he neglected.</p>
<p>According to my calculations… (tica tica tica tap) that’s more than 28 rounds per second!
If he lost control of the weapon and shot himself in the head… lucky he didn’t take out
ten other people with him.</p>
<p>-Federal law doesn’t prohibit squat. You need Title II to get a selective fire weapon, which are ridiculously expensive. Uzis fire 1700 rounds/min only in Arnold Schwarzennegar movies. Hell, belt fed weapons don’t fire 1700 rounds/min (SAW, m60, etc)</p>
<p>-Once in a blue moon? Are you high? Try somewhere about 2+ million/year.</p>
<p>Consider that most gun related deaths are criminals shooting criminals. Lets not turn this tragedy into some nonsensical anti gun spiel. Oh wait…too late.</p>
<p>oh. sueinphilly…How are Mayor Nutjob’s policies working out? I hear philly is amazingly safe because they have so many gun laws, right? Hey, I bet criminals follow those laws and turn in their weapons too!</p>
<p>Actually, you know whats the most senseless ‘gun death’? Google ‘Lon Horiuchi Waco’ and manslaughter. Thank god the government has guns to protect us…</p>
<p>I am quite surprised that the child’s mother has not imposed the death penalty on the clueless, brainless father. Because that’s what would happen in this household, were my husband to participate in such a deadly, foolish stunt with my child. Of course, the poor boy’s mother is likely just as much of a fool as the father. </p>
<p>It’s one thing to teach kids about hunting and gun safety–I am not into guns at all, but I do understand that many of those who are, are responsible and careful and are just into hunting. But an Uzi? Give me a break.</p>
<p><<Dist. Atty. William Bennett said the child, Christopher Bizilj of Ashford, Conn., was supervised by an uncertified 15-year-old boy, even though an ad for the Oct. 26 expo promised that certified instructors would oversee shooters.</p>
<p>Christopher was firing at a pumpkin when he lost control of the 9mm micro-submachine gun because of the recoil.>></p>
<p>Stupidity kills more people than any weapon ever devised. It is a great pity in this case that the stupidity recoiled on a small child instead of the ‘geniuses’ who came up with this stunt.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Ownership of NFA Title II firearms and devices is not illegal in all states. Some states have created their own bans, via state law. Federal law imposes a background check, application, $200 tax stamp, and signiture of the local chief law enforcement officer to own a Title II firearm or device (full-auto/select fire firearms, destructive devices, suppressors, short barrel rifles, and AOWs). Machine guns (firearms capable of firing more than one shot with a single trigger pull) are required to be registered into the national machine gun registry, which was closed to civilians in 1986. So, only machine guns manufactured and registered prior to '86 are legal for civilian ownership. Other NFA items are only subject to the first set of restrictions I posted, and any applicable state or local laws.</p></li>
<li><p>Americans use firearms for self-defense up to 2.5million times per year (estimates vary, 70K-2.5million, with somewhere over 1 million times per year being cited as the most reasonable range by most experts). This does not mean shots are actually fired, as most attacks/crimes are stopped/prevented by the defender exposing the firearm.</p></li>
<li><p>Approximately 30,000 Americans die from gunshot wounds per year. Roughly 17,000 of those deaths are suicides. Roughly 800 are accidental. Homicides accounted for approximately 12,000. (Using 2005 CDC data from WISQARS)</p></li>
<li><p>Hunters are a minority in the firearm owning population.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>^Yeah it does. Its still not possible. Uzis are <em>not</em> belt fed. You have to use measly 20 or 30 round mags. Logistically its simply not possible to fire 1700 rounds/minute. A .50 caliber rifle can also hit a target 2 miles away on future weapons. Ain’t gonna happen in real life.</p>
<p>The point is not what the gun can realistically do, but what it was designed to do and the capability made it more dangerous and more difficult to handle.</p>
<p>This kid was apparently about 4 feet tall and weighed 60-some pounds. Let’s not turn this into a debate about gun control in general. Even apart from the fact that I don’t understand why this child’s father thought this was an appropriate thing to do (safe or not), I’d like someone to explain to me how any rational person could possible have believed that it was safe for an 8-year old child to to hold and fire an uzi (“micro” or not), entirely by himself (without anyone, say, standing behind him and holding it with him) and have the strength to handle the recoil. </p>
<p>^The recoil isn’t the factor here. In a micro uzi platform, <em>recoil</em> from a 9mm is negligible. What is dangerous is <em>muzzle climb</em>.</p>
<p>p.s. which is caused by combined recoil from selective fire…so, yeah.</p>