"all Legal and Fun"

The boy was with a certified instructor and "was shooting the weapon down range when the force of the weapon made it travel up and back toward his head, where he suffered the injury," a police statement said. Police called it a "self-inflicted accidental shooting."

um.. oops.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

Being legal doesn't make it safe I guess... This is one of those rare cases where people can still exercise judgement and being people, they sometimes screw up with disasterous results.

Why there was not someone hovering over the kid, ready to steady the weapon is beyond me...

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-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

1. Tragedy that should have been easily avoided.
2. I work with a guy who lives in Westfield, I'm certain that I'll be hearing about this tomorrow.

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

This is one thing I have a big, big problem with. There should be a legal age for handleing firearms. 18, or at least 16.

It's very disturbing to me, to see all those underaged individuals, also known as "kids" fiddleing around with auto- and semi- automatic, high-power weapons.

There is a great book out there, "The Arming of America", it provides insight in many of the 'mythical' aspects of the 2. Amendment.

I have been teaching the Jr Azimuth's about firearms since they were 5. I do it incrementally and with hovering supervision. I would never have allowed my child to shoot an unfamiliar weapon without my physical contact somewhere. In fact, I keep their exposure age appropriate. None of the Jr Azimuths would have laid a finger on anything fully auto....

As you remember it, what were it's asserted myths about the 2nd amendment?

High-powered? By whose definition? Doesn't an Uzi just shoot 9x19 parabellum handgun rounds? It seems that every time a firearm is involved in an incident, it's defined as "high power". The only firearm I consider Hi-Power is a Browning, or FN P.35, John Moses Browning's last design, at least the basic concept was Browning's, modified and prefected by a protege of his.

My kids have all been handling handguns and rifles since they were 7-8 years old, but I have made a point of teaching them safe, responsible operation. Shooting cars and pumpkins with a full-auto machine gun lends itself to hooliganism...

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2002 Ford ZX2
2 x 2013 Honda Civics

i've been shooting guns since i was 5 yrs old. when i was in the 3rd grade i took my dad's remington 241 speedmaster .22 to school for a show and tell project.try that these days!!

As usual, it only takes a couple of f**king idiots to screw up spectacularly (and publicly) and make things far more difficult for the overwhelming majority of us gun owners whose skulls DO actually contain brain cells. ... Poor kid...



Mike

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1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
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1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
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1985 300TD
270,000 miles
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1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
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I think you would get more out of it, if you read the book yourself. Here's a review:

http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/0375402101.asp

So because the Uzi is 'only' a 9mm round and the only weapon you consider 'High Power', is a Browning, makes the Uzi perfectly child safe. Right on. I get it.

I am truly amazed, but unsurprised, to see certain people teaching their 5-8 y/o firearm handling.


Equipment
Rifle: Rifles to be used in High Power Rifle competition must be equipped with metallic sights (Some long range, 1000-yard matches allow the use of "any sights"), should be capable of holding at least 5 rounds of ammunition and should be adapted to rapid reloading. Tournament programs often group competitions into two divisions, Service Rifle and Match Rifle. The rifles currently defined as "Service Rifles" include the M1, M14, M16 and their commercial equivalents. Winchester and Remington have made their Model 70 and Model 40X rifles in "match" versions and custom gunsmiths have made up match rifles on many military and commercial actions. 1903 and 1903-A3 Springfield, 1917 Enfields and pre-war Winchester Model 70 sporters in .30-06 are all equipped with clip slots for rapid reloading. The most suitable rear sights are aperture or "peep" with reliable, repeatable 1/2 minute (or finer) adjustments. Front sights should be of either the post or aperture type.

http://desotorifleandpistolclub.com/NRA/NRAHighPowerRiflematch/tabid/62/Default.aspx

If a parent's hobby is shooting, I don't see any reason why, at the parent's discression, they can't share that with their kids. Granted that not everyone has the smarts to adequately supervise dangerous activities but I don't believe there has to be a law for everything. You can't completely legislate accidents out of existance.

High powered generally refers to "long" cartridges designed for rifles where the ratio of the shell length to capiber is much higher than in cartridges designed for pistols. It's just a term and it doesn't necissarily make them more dangerous. Even a blank gun can be lethal, just ask Jon-Erik Hexum's family. However, "high powered" is also one of those terms like "assault rifle" that people use in order to sensationalize a point of arguement.

Regardless of the cartridge type, it comes back to a responsible adult making the decision and managing a child's handling of potentially dangerous things wheather it's a firearm or even riding a bicycle.

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

I've been shooting and collecting from an early age as well.

Despite the fact I find moral and judgemental post-mortems odious It would certainly seem there was a lack of something quite out of fashion nowadays,COMMON SENSE.

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My thoughts exactly.

I also think the guy who handed the gun to him should be rung up on child endangerment charges if not something heavier.

All you have to do is look at the size of the grip on the firearm vs. the size of the hand require to hold it, and this disaster is screaming at you. (sure. Someone here will say I don’t know how big the kid was….whatever…let’s be real here.)

I don’t know about age limiting etc. I just think common sense must be used at all times.

BTW – Before this gets thrown into the political blender. I’d like to add that I’m a gun owning, competition shooting, ownership backing, hunting, shooting, protecting, collecting, 4H kid instructing…Liberal.

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1980 300D - Veggie Burner !