Skip navigation
advertisement

Conn. Senate OKs machine gun ban for kids

Legislation stems from 8-year-old boy's accidental Uzi death at gun club

Video
  Probe into boy's death
Oct. 30: Christopher Bizilj accidentally shot himself to death. NBC’s Jeff Rossen reports on the investigation.

Today show

Video: Life  
When the Saints go marching in
  In the middle of Mardi Gras revelry, the Saints Super Bowl parade on Tuesday took center stage. NBC's Janet Shamlian reports.

  Photo features  
  More
Image: The Week in Pictures
Reuters
  The Week in Pictures
Snow and ice abound, Haiti goes on, State of the Union view, Machu Picchu flooding, a firefighter’s reprieve in Nigeria and more news and feature images from around the world.
Image: Amphibious Bus Is Taken For Its Second Test Drive In River Clyde
Getty Images
PhotoBlog
View and discuss the pictures and issues that caught our eyes.
updated 6:29 p.m. ET April 30, 2009

HARTFORD, Conn. - The Connecticut Senate on Thursday approved a measure that would ban children under 16 years old from handling or shooting machine guns.

The legislation, which passed on a 31-2 vote, stems from the October death of an 8-year-old Ashford boy who accidentally shot himself in the head with an Uzi at a Massachusetts gun show.

"For a young person, a minor, to handle an automatic weapon ... it's like saying that it's OK to pick up a rattlesnake and that it is somehow going to be safe," said Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn. "It's not going to be safe and it should not be legal and I would think that a lot of folks would be shocked that there was not a law."

Story continues below ↓
advertisement | your ad here

The bill now moves to the House of Representatives, where it is expected to pass.

The boy, Christopher Bizilj, was killed Oct. 26 when he lost control of the powerful automatic weapon as it recoiled while he was firing at a pumpkin at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman's Club. Christopher's father was 10 feet behind him and reaching for his camera when the child fired the weapon.

Click for related content

Three men, including Pelham, Mass., Police Chief Edward Fleury, whose business promoted the gun show, and two men who brought the Uzi, have been charged under Massachusetts law with involuntary manslaughter. Fleury was also charged with four counts of furnishing a machine gun to a person under 18.

All three have pleaded not guilty to their respective charges.

More on: Uzi death

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Sponsored LinksGet listed here
Online College Courses
Boost your career with an online Degree. Pick from Leading Colleges!
www.EarnMyDegree.com

Sponsored links

Resource guide