State Senate Approves Machine Gun Bill In Response To Boy's Death

[Hazcat]

Prompted by the death of an 8-year-old Connecticut boy at a Massachusetts gun club, the state Senate voted 31-2 Thursday on a measure designed to keep machine guns out of the hands of anyone under 16.

The bill, which prohibits the transfer of such weapons to children, is in response to the death of Christopher K. Bizilj, an Ashford boy who lost control of a Micro Uzi submachine gun and accidentally shot himself in the head in Massachusetts in late October.

The third-grader, who was 4 feet 3 and weighed 66 pounds, couldn't control the high-powered weapon's recoil. A Massachusetts grand jury has indicted a police chief, the gun club and two Connecticut men in connection with the accident at the machine gun event in Westfield.

Both Republicans and Democrats described the measure as "common sense" legislation, saying they believe that most citizens would be surprised to learn that it is currently legal for minors to fire such a powerful weapon.



"Perhaps this legislation might prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future," said Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, co-chairman of the legislature's judiciary committee. "It seems extraordinary that we would have to legislate" regarding machine guns.

The bill requires approval by the House and Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell to become law.

Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney of New Haven, who pushed for the measure, said, "The tragedy that occurred in Massachusetts in October should be a wake-up for Connecticut. It is of vital importance that we keep children safe from assault weapons and machine guns."

But Sen. Anthony Guglielmo, R-Stafford Springs, who knows the family of the deceased boy, voted against the bill and said passing a new law was not the way to solve the issue.

"We've got kids on dirt bikes riding all over the place," Guglielmo said in an interview. "You can't take all the risk out of life. ... There's some of us who think we're regulating every bit of Americans' lives. Life is a risk. You can't be locked up in a padded room. This is a very rare occurrence."

The other Republican who voted against the bill, Sen. Kevin Witkos, said minors could still get access to firearms. Like Guglielmo, Witkos said he has fired an Uzi in the past.

"It's not going to fix anything," said Witkos, a Canton police officer for the past 20 years. "It's not going to prevent a tragic accident like this from happening. I think education is the way to go, not prohibiting gun ownership."

In the accident, the boy was firing at a pumpkin with a 9mm Micro Uzi that can fire at a rate of 1,700 rounds a minute. The boy lost control of the weapon, which he was firing at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo, a two-day event for gun enthusiasts at the Westfield Sportsman's Club.

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-session0501.artmay01,0,5863982.story

comments at link

[blackwolfe]

From the article:
"the high-powered weapon's recoil"
 "such a powerful weapon."
Ever see a news story about guns being misused that it wasn't refered to as a high powerd weapon or some other such nonsense. 

[runstowin]

I bet Taxachussetts, already has laws covering negligence and reckless endangerment, no need for that law.

[MikeBjerum]

This is the way they suck in not only the average Joe, but also many gun lovers.  The emotions of an already overly regulated tool and the death of a child.  Now they come along with the words "common sense" and "to avoid another tragic ..."  Who wouldn't want to support this?  Why don't we hear this when a child rides his bike into traffic, or chases a ball out from parked cars, or falls off a mini bike, or crashes a go kart, or gets hit in the head by a fast ball in Little League, or ...?

The reason this Nation was founded as a republic and not a true democracy was so that cool and level heads could act in the best interest of the citizens rather than the emotions of the moment resulting in rash votes in reaction to individual incidents ... Ooooops ... we got it all twisted around somehow     Could this be what happens when politics becomes a career rather than a term of service for our fellow man?

[tombogan03884]

I bet Taxachussetts, already has laws covering negligence and reckless endangerment, no need for that law.

Since when does "need" have any bearing

[Sponsor]

[fightingquaker13]

This is typical poltical nonsense.The fact is that the brain trust that decided giving a 66 pound kid a machine pistol was a good idea and a safe thing to do ( ) are facing legal liability as they should. The laws are already there. The pols just have to be seen as "doing something" as they don't have the maturity or restaint to explain to folks that the situation is being handled just fine under existing law, thank you. This isn't just guns. Everytime there's a terrible crime or a horrible accident the same thing happens. If the kid had died in a go-kart accident you'd see the same thing, helmets required and no-one under16 or 18 or 25 or at all allowed to drive one (after all, nobody NEEDS a go-kart). There is a reaon why the saying that "hard cases make bad law" is a classic. Its just too bad that no politician has ever understood why.
FQ13

[Timothy]

Did anyone notice that this bill was passed in the Connecticut Legilslature, not Massachusetts?

I've not heard a peep out of Beacon Hill on the matter other than the indictments.

[Sgt Z Squad]

Here is the story:

A father allows his son to fire the gun. He is an emergency room physician in an eastern Connecticut hospital. An educated "know-not." Massachusetts elects not to indict him as he has to live with his stupidity. He should be standing tall before the judge too.

My legislature tries to legislate common sense which is totally absent in Hartford, from the govenor on down.