A few weeks ago there was a mishap with a stunt demonstration involving explosives at Knob Creek. Now an eight year old kid accidently shot himself with a submachine gun at a machine gun shoot in Westfield, Massachusetts. I’m sorry to say, but this will probably be the end of machine gun shooting in Massachusetts. This is the first accident I can honestly think of involving a Title II firearm, and there are hundreds of shoots like this all over the country year round, but none of that will matter to the hysterics that are going to follow in the Bay State.
7 thoughts on “Westfield Machine Gun Shoot Accident”
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I can think of one other incident, in PA in fact. An aux PO was killed when a minigun discharged when someone was trying to clear a jam at a private demonstration in Blair County.
what the hell was an 8 year old doing shooting a machine gun??
Really, I know some kids mature at different rates, but having been around 8 year olds, I don’t really think thats appropriate for them – both in terms of the strength needed to control it and their penchant to do dumb things (girls are a bit different than boys, in this regard).
I started out on a BB gun when I was 7, moved up to a single shot shotgun and .22 I didn’t fire anything with more umph than a .22 for some time.
This just strikes me as a terrible tragedy and horribly unsafe situation to put a kid in.
Countertop:
I agree. Most of the kids I’ve seen shooting machine guns at machine gun shoots are shooting tripod mounted guns, which is perfectly safe. There’s no danger of losing control of a gun like that. But a submachine gun or a machine pistol? Yeah, I agree. Most eight year olds are going to have a tough time controlling that. For a machine pistol, most adults who are untrained in firing automatics are going to be as well.
Laws should not be made because of accidents.
An 8 year old?!? I could maybe see letting them shoot a .22lr M16 but an Uzi? Thats just asking for trouble.
I think that the boy, shocked form the recoil, loosened his grip or let go and the gun twirled itself around. I do not believe that the gun twisted his wrists back with him maintaining a solid or even moderate grip.
With that in mind, I think the best way to prevent this from happening again is for the safety to find a way to hold onto the firearm with first time shooters and those who look young or weak.
My sympathies to the family. That is a damn horrible thing to go through.