Looks like the machine gun shoot organizer, the instructor, and the firearm owner, were charged with manslaughter in the death of that 8 year old boy at the machine gun shoot. Seems the club was charged too, but I’m not sure how you charge a club.
Hat tip to Robb
UPDATE: At least one state representative up there understands what the problem is. I have to admit, I didn’t know what they were doing was illegal either. With any other firearm, there’s an exception that allows supervised possession. Just not a machine gun. When it comes to gun laws, common sense is often uncommon.
Letting a five-year-old shoot a Cricket is one thing; letting an eight-year-old shoot an automatic pistol is something else entirely. It seems grossly reckless to me, with my heaviest condemnation going toward the parents.
Im not surprised. That age and a death is involved, someone had to take the blame.
It’s a tragedy all around. A kid is dead, otherwise good people will have their lives ruined, and one of the biggest clubs in Massachusetts will be closed, in all likelihood.
Most adults have a hard time controlling a micro-uzi due to the extremely high cyclic rate. There used to be a local around here that had one and was a good sized adult male and people evacuated the firing line when he shot it and got a good distance away from him.
It was entirely irresponsible, whatever the laws, to not have started the kid with one round, than 2 or 3, before unleashing him with a full magazine and the instructor should have stood behind, reached over, and had his hands on top of the fore of the micro to prevent the kid from becoming an AA gunner, murderer, or suicide if he were to decide to give the child a large magazine loading to shoot.
Negligent homicide in my book. Person had no right to call himself any kind of instructor
I agree, it was a horrible lapse in judgment on the part of the people involved in the accident.
It’s just hard for me to see otherwise good people get ruined. I agree that they were wrong, but no one intended for it to happen, and wild hysterics from anti-gun people and the media aside, it was a relatively freak accident. The kid could just as easily have fallen down a crevasse when his dad took him hiking over a glacier. That was poor judgment too, but no one would be looking for someone to put in jail in that circumstance.
As someone said there: “1. Ignorance of the law is NOT a defense.”
Does anyone even understand how damn many laws we have? Knowing them all would be like memorizing a few sets of encyclopedias, A-Z x 5 or more. Add to that the multiple layers of government and I can GUARANTEE that you can’t even find a freak of nature with photographic memory and recall in this country that knows them all.
Does anyone know if the Brady types fingerprints are on the “under 18” law?
The Laws of physics suggest an 8yo child would not be able to control a Micro-Uzi on his own. Judgement error on the part of adults.
For what it’s also worth…they CANCELED MACHINE GUN NIGHT AT MY LOCAL INDOOR 100 YARD RANGE BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE LETTING THEIR CHILDREN SHOOT AND TEARING THE HOLY HELL OUT OF THE RANGE SO EVERYBODY LOST THE PRIVILEGE.
Personal responsibility…
NONE was exhibited. I am NOT anti Class III, not in ANY way, but to place one in the hands of an 8 year old kid that had NO training and was totally unprepared was a crime in and of itself…
I didn’t see anything in this article about the “instructor” being indited; did I miss it?
Fred beat me to it. This was an irresponsible move, on everyone involved’s part. And now a child’s life has been lost due to it. All other costs really tend to pale in comparison.
Does anyone know if the Brady types fingerprints are on the “under 18″ law?
Seriously?
Just remember you’re talking about Massachusetts where pepper spray is regulated under gun laws.
The death of this kid was due to a culmination of stupidity. I did read that the supervisor in charge of the gun and kid at the time was a 15 year old and he is not being indicted.
Who in the hell would think it is okay for an 8 year old kid to handle and shoot a sub-machine gun under any conditions. I am all for teaching kids how to use guns, I have been hunting with my grandsons for years but I would not let either of them at 8 and 11 years old hold and shoot a pistol without my hand close by, much less an automatic micro-uzi.
I am sorry for the people involved but I think what they set up was a disaster waiting to happen. This is not a 2nd amendment issue, it is a stupid issue.