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Gun clubbers prosecuted over child death
Mexico City News.Net
Thursday 4th December, 2008
In the US, three men, including a local police chief, have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, after an 8-year-old boy shot himself at a gun-club fair.
The boy accidentally shot himself in the head with an Uzi rifle, which recoiled violently.
Prosecutors say the child should never have been allowed to touch the gun, while the fair should have employed certified instructors.
In Massachusetts, District Attorney William Bennett has told reporters the eight year old was supervised by an uncertified 15-year-old boy.
The incident, which occurred on October 26th at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman's Club in western Massachusetts, was sponsored by a company owned by Pelham Police Chief Edward Fleury, one of the indicted men.
Another two men who took the automatic weapon to the show, Carl Guiffre of Hartford, Connecticut, and Domenico Spano, of New Milford, Connecticut, also were indicted.
Fleury had allegedly assured Guiffre and Spano that it was legal for children to use the Uzi under Massachusetts law.
In the state of Massachusetts, providing a minor with a machine gun carries penalties of up to 10 years in prison, up to $10,000 in fines and the loss of a firearms license for at least 10 years.
A Uzi is rifle is normally used by the Israeli Armed Forces.
It has a rate of fire of 1,700 rounds per minute.
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