Accidental Gun Club Shooting ( PA ) In this day and age??

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GotDogs
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Accidental Gun Club Shooting ( PA ) In this day and age??

#1

Post by GotDogs »

Hi All,

This kind of thing makes my skin crawl. Guns have been around a while, 19th. Century at least. We are at the TOP of the food chain and yet this happens all to often. When is a lesson learned? What will it take for this kind of thing to stop? I don't care who you are, where you are from ........ It's always LOADED !!! Man this just gets me going it also helps the cause of the gun grabbers. I am sorry for any loss of life to accidents. It's sad and scarey at the same time. Sorry for the rant. John



UPDATE: Gun club shooting victim dies

Associated PressAssociated Press
Updated: 02/20/2012 03:09:52 PM EST

LEESPORT, Pa. (AP) - Authorities have released the name of a man who died after he was shot at a Berks County Pennsylvania gun club.
Northern Berks Regional Police were called to the Leesport Gun Club in Ontelaunee Township just after 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Chief Scott W. Eaken says three or four people had been firing rifles, pistols and a shotgun for more than an hour when a 22-caliber pistol being handled by one man discharged, striking him in the head.

Eaken says he was taken to Reading Hospital, where he was pronounced dead Monday morning. An autopsy is planned Tuesday afternoon.

The Berks County Coroner's office identified the victim as 30-year-old Michael Nieves of Reading.

Eaken says authorities are "tentatively leaning toward" classifying the case an accidental shooting, but the investigation continues.

EARLIER

Police and emergency medical crews were called to an Ontelaunee Township shooting range Sunday afternoon for reports that a man had been accidentally shot.

Berks County emergency dispatchers said a 30-year-old man was unconscious after being shot in the head with a .22-caliber pistol. It was reported at the Leesport Gun Club, 89 Ontelaunee Drive, about 5 p.m.

The man's identity and condition, as well as other details, were not available.

Northern Berks Regional police declined to release information about the incident. They said it was under investigation.
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#2

Post by Jordan »

What a shame... a chilling reminder not to get complacent about gun safety.
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Rwb1500
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#3

Post by Rwb1500 »

Jordan wrote:What a shame... a chilling reminder not to get complacent about gun safety.
+1 on that. Sometimes it's easy to do with a .22 pistol too. They can feel like toys, but obviously they are not.
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#4

Post by The Deacon »

Have to wonder what someone would have to be doing to accidentally shoot himself in the head.

Even LEO's get careless...
Student accidentally shot at concealed weapons class

Published: Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 3:15 a.m.

The wife of a Spartanburg County sheriff's deputy was accidentally shot Saturday during a concealed weapons permit class instructed by another deputy. The victim, Crystal Smith, was struck with a .22-caliber bullet, Spartanburg Sheriff Chuck Wright said at a news conference.

Deputy Calvin “Skip” Smith was showing another student in the course how to properly grip her gun when it discharged, and Crystal, who was standing beside the other student on the firing line, was shot. Wright said the bullet passed through Crystal's arm and entered her side.

Wright said Smith, a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division certified Concealed Weapons Permit Course instructor, was unaware a round had been chambered into the pistol. He was off duty when the accidental shooting occurred. He and the victim are not related. He said she will be OK, and, above all else, he is thankful the mother of three survived.
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#5

Post by BAL »

Guns are always loaded
Guns are always loaded
Guns are always loaded.......
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#6

Post by ChrisR »

BAL wrote:Guns are always loaded
Guns are always loaded
Guns are always loaded.......
So true - you have to assume this. I never pick up even my air-rifle without assuming that a round is chambered and ready to fire. So far I have never discovered a round in it because I also make sure that I never leave a weapon loaded ... but it never hurts to be sure.
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#7

Post by butch »

2 things that keep me from the range more adn more is the cost of ammo and the lack of good gun handling by many of the ppl that show up

my faverate time is mid afternoon as most are still at work and the range is mostly clear
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#8

Post by phillipsted »

There is one range in my local area that I refuse to go to any more for this very reason. I've been there several times when young chowderheads are banging away carelessly with their pistols - trying to look like Al Pacino. The Rangemaster never intervenes - and I refuse to be in the firing line when these idiots sweep me on a poorly-executed cross-draw. Did I mention that these guys were morons?

These days I only go to the NRA range at their National Headquarters in Fairfax VA. It is modern, well soundproofed, ventilated, and professional. Everything you would expect from the NRA.

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#9

Post by tonydahose »

nothing surprises me anymore. IIRC didn't a kid around 10 years old get killed when they let him fire a machine gun at a gun show. as the rounds came out of the gun, the barrel worked up and up until he shot a bullet in his head. now this of course happened in probably less than a second or two. stupidity (the dad's and the gun instructor in this situation) knows no bounds.

edit: found the story, the kid was 8 firing an UZI :mad:

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=6121915&page=1

With his father and a firearms instructor standing nearby, an 8-year-old Connecticut boy shot himself in the head with a submachine gun yesterday, killing himself in an accident some say should never have happened.

Christopher Bizilj was testing a 9 mm Micro Uzi at the Westfield Sportsman's Club in Westfield, Mass., as part of the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo, when he shot himself Sunday.

"The firearm instructor prepped the weapon for him, and once it was ready he handed it to the child," Westfield Police Lt. Hipolito Nunez told ABCNews.com today.

Christopher then pulled the trigger, and the gun's recoil pulled the barrel upward, causing a round to hit him on the right side of his head, according Nunez. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Baystate Medical Center in nearby Springfield.

Massachusetts law allows a child to fire a gun with parental consent, so long as there's an active permit for the gun and a licensed firearm instructor is supervising. It is unclear whether the gun had a permit or whether the instructor was licensed, but Nunez said Christopher's father was nearby.

Christopher's family, including his father, Dr. Charles Bizilj, who is the director of emergency medicine at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs, Conn., could not be reached for comment.






ABC

Eight-year-old Christopher Bizilj accidentally shot and killed himself Sunday with an Uzi submachine gun while his fathe and a firearm instructor stood nearby.




But according to Ted Oven, a gun retailer and president of the Massachusetts Association of Firearms Dealers, Christopher should have never been allowed to handle a submachine gun on his own.

Oven has shot similar weapons and said the recoil is tough to control even for an adult.

"It requires all my strength," said Oven, who added that he did not have much experience with the Micro Uzi. "For an 8-year-old, it was inappropriate."

The Micro Uzi, he said, is a tough gun to get a permit for and retails for several thousand dollars. He was not at the expo when Christopher was shot but said that because the gun is fully automatic, it likely shot off several rounds in a couple of seconds when the boy pulled the trigger.

Information found on Uzitalk.com, an Internet forum dedicated to the Israeli-made submachine guns, described the Micro Uzi as coming on the market in 1986 and having the capability to fire 25 rounds in less than 30 seconds. The guns, manufactured by Israeli Military Industries Ltd., are generally designed for military and police use.





'No Permits or Licenses Required'
Messages left with COP Firearms & Training, the co-sponsor of the gun expo, and the president of the Westfield Sportsman's Club, were not immediately returned.
The flier for the expo advertised that it was "all legal and fun -- no permits or licenses required."

Targets listed on the flier included pumpkins, vehicles and "other fun stuff we can't print here!"

The Boston Field Division of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating the accident along with the Westfield Police, Massachusetts State Police and the Hampden County District Attorney's Office.

James McNally, spokesman for the ATF's Boston division declined to comment until more information was available, but said "it's been awful."

Susan Gates, general counsel for the Washington, D.C.-based Children's Defense Fund, said the shooting in Westfield was a tragic reminder that there is not enough being done in the U.S. to keep guns out of children's hands.

"It just continues to illustrate why children should not have access to any type of gun," Gates said.

Most children killed by guns handled them in their homes, and accidents at expos and shooting ranges are much less common, according to Gates.

But even though Massachusetts law, and those of many other states, allow children to shoot weapons in a controlled environment, the Children's Defense Fund's policy is that those laws aren't strong enough.




"It is so dangerous, as well seen by this incident, to handle any type of loaded gun, never mind a loaded Uzi," Gates said.



William Hockla has lived across the street from Biziljs for years and said Christopher was very bright and active. He heard about the shooting on the radio this morning.

"I was hoping it wasn't true," he said.

He described Charles Bizilj and his wife Suzanne as involved parents who took their two boys camping, fishing and skiing.

"They were very polite, well-groomed," he said. "Terrific boys."
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#10

Post by sir_mike »

We just had one here at a shooting range yesterday around 3:30pm in Traverse City, Michigan.

Not many details though.

http://record-eagle.com/local/x10836979 ... ting-range
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#11

Post by GotDogs »

Un-real !!!!
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#12

Post by dsmegst »

I feel for the victim but he broke rules 1, 2, and 3, if I read the article right... Tragic.

I thought the Uzi story was pure idiocy when I first read it and still think so too.

The 2nd story was too vague to know what happened there.

I love my guns and I enjoy going to the range but I have serious doubts about some of the immature clowns in the other lanes. And I get really nervous when someone obviously inexperienced coming up to the lane carrying the rental container. Sometimes, I really wish I had some land and lived away from the suburbs.
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#13

Post by Rwb1500 »

dsmegst wrote: Sometimes, I really wish I had some land and lived away from the suburbs.
There is truly nothing better. And nobody gets upset when I kill a bunch of watermelons and cantaloupe with .50 caliber rounds. (Not BMG, but someday.)
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#14

Post by jossta »

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#15

Post by dsmegst »

Thanks for the video link. It's a good reminder for everyone.
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#16

Post by BAL »

Thanks for the video link jossta. Love Clint Smith, he has common sense gun rules
and training methods and just tells it like it is.
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#17

Post by jossta »

No prob :) .

Yeah. He has an interesting definition of "cool," lol, but I really like that video. The part to really think about is that it's a lifestyle decision.
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#18

Post by SMI »

Just because guns have been around for a long time, doesn't make people any safer/smarter while using them.
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