An article I found in today’s New York Times titled, “Boy, 8, Fatally Shoots Self in Head While Trying out Uzi Submachine Gun at Mass. Gun Club Show” shocked me. The article stated that an eight year-old boy was killed in
Although the boy, Christopher Bizilj of Ashford Conn.
Sources said that gun safety experts were present at the scene of the incident and expressed concern that a child was permitted to use such a dangerous weapon. I ask myself, ‘Why didn’t these ‘experts’ who are supposed to be professionals act on the scene and attempt to stop the boy from using such a deadly weapon used in war.
A spokesperson for Stop Handgun Violence Jerry Belair said in the article, "It's easy to lose control of a weapon like that...they are used on a battleground for a very good reason.” Well, yes Jerry that is true, but it does not take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. I want to know why a child would be put in a life-threatening a position such as this one.
Bizilj was just a third grader when he attended the gun show with his father and brother. His father was ten feet behind his son during the shooting and was about to snap a photo, before he saw the death of his son, according to the New York Times.
Bizilj died on Sunday only hours after he shot himself. To be just eight years old and die from accidentally shooting oneself is a crime of the man who created him; who raised him. The man who made the decision to bring his baby shooting and the man who watched his innocent son, with his whole future ahead of him, flat line in an instant: His Father.
The investigation is still taking place to find out if the father had a specific license or if the incident was illegal.
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Well, a couple comments about this interesting post. First, what the heck was a third grader doing with a “real” gun in his hands, in the first place? I think that there should be a law of some sort against this. I am not saying that children should be totally deterred from gun usage, as in some parts of this nation young children frequently participate in hunting, and it is common for children and adults to carry guns because of wilderness conditions. And in parts of the nation where there is much open space and limited police patrolling, carrying a gun on one’s person is not looked down upon.
Secondly, it needs to be pointed out that this was a weapon of destruction. As the post points out, the particular gun that the boy was shooting from is a type of gun that is used in battlegrounds, for the reason that it is hard to control and thus destructive.
In my personal opinion, this particular case was not a hunting accident or even a handgun accident. This was a completely unavoidable error, on behalf of the parent. In these situations, when the parent cannot make a competent decision, the state is obligated to step-in. I am sure that this will happen, and criminal charges will be brought up against the father, for his negligence and sheer lack of properly assessing the situation.
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