Mike’s Blog: What’s Not To Like?

With the tragic events surrounding the senseless killings of Oscar winning actress Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother, and now 7-year old nephew ringing through the airwaves, I am called to wonder once again why the hell does anyone need a gun?

True that in a desperate domestic situation, the perpetrator could use any number of weapons to carry out their crimes of passion.  Gun availability made that situation go from bad to worse, ending in a triple murder.  As the father of a 5yr old, it breaks my heart to hear of the violence that ended the life of Hudson’s nephew. Why on God’s green earth do any among us outside of law enforcement need to have guns? I will never understand that Second Amendment argument given the reality of today’s society.  Sure, in the 1700’s or even 1800’s one certainly needed to defend themselves, defend this country at a moments notice and in some cases hunt for their food each day.  But today we have an organized police department, a trained army, and Jewel Foods to serve those needs. 

Now I see this article and my head spins trying to imagine what people can possibly be thinking. This story is the result of a negligent parent, irresponsibly allowing an 8-yr old - eight year old- to fire an automatic weapon. This kind of stupidity is inconceivable to me. The article says the guy is a certified instructor.  Who certified him to allow an 8yr old fire a weapon, any weapon, let alone an Uzi submachine gun? 

Boy, 8, fatally shoots self in head while trying out Uzi submachine gun at Mass. gun club show

By Associated Press
1:55 PM CDT, October 27, 2008

WESTFIELD, Mass. (AP) _ An 8-year-old boy died after accidentally shooting himself in the head while firing an Uzi submachine gun under adult supervision at a gun fair.

The boy lost control of the weapon while firing it Sunday at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman’s Club, police Lt. Lawrence Vallierpratte said.

Police said the boy, Christopher Bizilj (Bah-SEAL) of Ashford, Conn., was with a certified instructor and called the death a “self-inflicted accidental shooting.”

As the boy fired the Uzi, “the front end of the weapon went up with the backfire and he ended up receiving a round in his head,” police Lt. Hipolito Nunez said. The boy died at a hospital.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 27th, 2008 at 3:50 pm and is filed under in the news, Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.