Authorities say Police Chief Edward Fleury promoted the gun exposition where Christopher Bizilj died. (DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE)
Posted on 11/10/2009 12:00:13 PM PST by JoeProBono
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) -- The family of an 8-year-old boy who fatally shot himself at a gun show in western Massachusetts say the Uzi submachine gun jammed twice before he lost control of the weapon and fired into his head.
The family of Christopher Bizilj (bah-SEEL') of Ashford, Conn., says in a civil lawsuit filed Friday that a 15-year-old instructor who cleared the gun and handed it back to the victim failed to provide proper guidance.....
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Authorities say Police Chief Edward Fleury promoted the gun exposition where Christopher Bizilj died. (DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE)
Okay there seems to have been a very long list of FAILS in this case.
It’s crazy stories like this that give ammunition (pardon the pun) to the anti-gun show crowd. How in the world do responsible adults allow an 8 year-old to fire an fully automatic, and possibly unwieldy weapon especially under the supervision of a kid who’s not old enough to drive? It’s ridiculous.
Wow. Cute kid..I wonder what a lawsuit will accomplish.
Wasn’t the boys father right there?
Seems like I recall that he was. Wanted his son to fire the weapon.....
Cha-ching!
I remember when this happened.
This is one of the worst case of criminal negligence I’ve ever heard of.
The Micro UZI is difficult enough for a grown man to control, let alone an eight year-old.
Prison sentences, all around.
No excuses.
I’m as pro-gun as they come and I have no problem with kids lighting off full auto weapons, but not an 8 y/o supervised by a 15 y/o. Full auto? You can bet I’d have a hand on that gun too if I had an 8 y/o shooting it.
Can they sue themselves for neglect? C’mon ... an 8 year old firing an Uzi? Idiots.
I am sure the manufacturer would agree that it was unreasonably dangerous to put an Uzi into the hands of an eight-year-old. But they didn't do this. The parents did this.
I am sure the manufacturer would agree that it was unreasonably dangerous to put an Uzi into the hands of an eight-year-old. But they didn't do this. The parents did this.
“Boy, 8, Killed in Mass. Gun Show Accident
(10/27/2008)
With an instructor watching, an 8-year-old boy at a gun fair aimed an Uzi at a pumpkin and pulled the trigger as his dad reached for a camera. Authorities are now considering whether criminal charges should be filed.
It was his first time shooting a fully automatic machine gun, and the recoil of the weapon was too much for him. He lost control and fatally shot himself in the head.
Now gun safety experts — and some gun enthusiasts at the club where the shooting happened — are wondering why such a young child was allowed to fire a weapon used in war. Local, state and federal authorities are also investigating whether everyone involved had proper licenses.
Authorities said Tuesday that they are now considering whether criminal charges should be filed in the boy’s 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.
Bennett says he’s looking into whether anyone committed a reckless or wanton act when they allowed the boy to fire the weapon.
“It’s easy to lose control of a weapon like that ... they are used on a battleground for a very good reason,” said Jerry Belair, a spokesman for Stop Handgun Violence, based in Newton, Mass. “It’s to shoot as many times as you possibly can without having to reload at an enemy that’s approaching. It’s not a toy. It’s not something to play with.”
Police said Christopher Bizilj of Ashford, Conn., was pronounced dead at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., on Sunday afternoon, shortly after firing a 9mm micro Uzi submachine gun at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman’s Club, co-sponsored by C.O.P. Firearms & Training.
“The weapon was loaded and ready to fire,” Westfield police Lt. Hipolito Nunez said. “The 8-year-old victim had the Uzi and as he was firing the weapon, the front end of the weapon went up with the backfire and he ended up receiving a round in his head.”
Nunez said the investigation is continuing.
Christopher, a third-grader, was attending the show with his father and sixth-grade brother, Colin. Christopher had fired handguns and rifles before, but Sunday was his first time firing an automatic weapon, said his father, Charles Bizilj.
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 the larger weapons, but he let his son try the Uzi because it’s a small weapon with little recoil.
“This accident was truly a mystery to me,” said Bizilj, director of emergency medicine at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford, Conn. “This is a horrible event, a horrible travesty, and I really don’t know why it happened.”
Police are calling the shooting an accident but are investigating whether everyone connected with the incident had proper weapons permits. Massachusetts requires licenses to own firearms, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issues different licenses to possess machine guns.
The machine gun shoot drew hundreds of people from as far away as Maine and Virginia. 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.
Massachusetts has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. 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, Nunez said. The name of the instructor who was with the boy at the time was not released.
“We do not know at this time the full facts of this incident,” Nunez said Monday.
Wow, that had to be a horrific scene.
iirc, the father was a dentist and was right there.
Sounds like the father and the promoter both need adult supervision.
The kid’s father:
1) brought the kid to the gun show,
2) and is standing doing NOTHING,
3) while a 15 yo shows him how to handle an Uzi submachine gun,
4) that has already jammed twice while they are standing there???
Let me get this straight. The same parent(s) that allowed the kid to handle an Uzi are now suing because it’s someone else’s fault? Okay.....
hh
This moron should have his Law license yanked.
Where were Christopher’s mommy & daddy?
“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.”
— — —
Who is this turd brain attorney William Bennett? Laws only restrict freedoms from the Constitution, they don’t grant freedoms.
Of note.
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