Family Forum / Parenting / Parenting / November 2008

Boy, 8, fatally shoots self with Uzi at gun show
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hl-VtQImXVuBfNXTpNMvOgFOxj2wD9439PRO0
Furrotown Road in Westfield, Mass., on Monday, Oct. 27, 2008.
Christopher Bizilj ,8,of Ashford, Conn. died after accidentally
shooting himself in the head while firing an Uzi submachine gun at a
gun fair held on the premises on Sun. Oct. 26, 2008.

 teachers
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 role modeling
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 warriors at play
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WESTFIELD, Mass. (AP) — 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.

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 or if anyone committed a criminal act.

"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 (Bah-SEAL) 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.
Associated Press