The lawyer for former Pelham Police Chief Edward B. Fleury is asking a Hampden Superior Court judge to drop a manslaughter charge against her client, saying Fleury could not be expected to have foreseen the fatal accident at the gun show he organized.
The filthy cover-ups and wrist slapping continue in this case. Fleury organized the event at the club and also faces charges of furnishing a machine gun to a minor, but of course they're trying to get him off.
Hampden District Attorney William M. Bennett said that by sponsoring the show, Fleury in effect furnished the gun under state law, although the other two men brought the guns to the show and ran the firing line.
Again, Bennett said the role of sponsoring the exposition and receiving a share or proceeds from sale of ammunition is enough to make Fleury liable for involuntary manslaughter.
Fleury’s trial was to begin Sept. 9 but now that trial date may be changed.
It's easy to see what's happening here. Just like the slap on the wrist the shooting range got, "as part of a settlement in Springfield Superior Court, the club agreed to pay a $1,000 fine for the manslaughter charge and to pay $10,000 to two charities that work with children," Fleury is trying to slither away too.
What's your opinion? Isn't this a case in which extended responsibility needs to be applied? The boy was 8 years old for crying out loud. Not only his father and the folks closest to the incident who failed to take proper precautions, but also the shooting range and guys like Fleuren who were involved in running the event, all these people should have been severely punished. Theirs is an unconscionable irresponsibility and nonchalance.
Of course I don't stop there in assignmìing blame, punishment ends with those named above, but the circles of blame go much further. I include all gun owners who fight against laws that prevent these kinds of tragedies.
What do you think? Please leave a comment.
I think anyone who thought an 8 year old child had the strength to control an Uzi is insane and criminally liable. This story is a tragedy and shows yet again that the "responsible, serious gun enthusiast" portrait we have been handed by the NRA is a sham.
ReplyDeleteWhere is the "cover-up" part. It looks like all information for this story came from new sources and court documents. What was covered up?
ReplyDelete"I think anyone who thought an 8 year old child had the strength to control an Uzi is insane and criminally liable."
ReplyDeleteI think anyone who thought an 8 year old child had the strength to control an Uzi is unfamiliar with firearms, as the child's father most surely was. He even admitted such later.
"This story is a tragedy..."
It certainly is.
"...and shows yet again that the "responsible, serious gun enthusiast" portrait we have been handed by the NRA is a sham."
And how does it show that? Because one gun show organizer, in a state full of people who are generally forbidden firearms (and therefore generally unfamiliar with firearms) held a gun show at which the son of one of the exhibitors allowed a child to shoot a firearm that was too much for him?
What this shows, if anything, is that firearms are serious things, not to be handled carelessly or without proper instruction and proper supervision. A 15 year old supervising an 8 year old shows questionable judgement on the part of the exhibitor. A father completely unfamiliar with firearms who avoids the bigger, heavier machine guns because he thinks they'll have too much recoil, but will let his child shoot a micro-uzi is unfortunately ignorant of firearms, and his son died because of it.
People who live in a state of ignorance (like Massachussets) and are fed garbage (like this line from the Boston Globe: "Recoil -- the backward motion of a weapon after it's fired -- is greater for guns that fire rapidly and use larger caliber shells") are unfortunately ill-informed, and will make bad decisions from that position of ignorance.
The NRA and many gun owner organizations seek to correct that ignorance, by addressing it directly with safety classes and firearm education. If anyone is indirectly responsible for this tragedy, it would be the anti-gun movement who have taken every step possible to remove the familiarity of firearms from people.
I highly doubt SoBeale knows anything about Uzi's, so her opinion is less than useless. That said, even an adult should not be handling a full-auto mirco-uzi if he/she is not familiar with firearms.
ReplyDeleteSobeale is also a token bigoted and dishonest anti-gunner who has lied and slandered people before. She has no integrity or credibility whatsoever.
This was a case of negligence based primarily upon ignorance. Ignorance which folks like MikeB and SoBeale actively promulgate.
Dear Mr. Anonymous, Tell us your name if you want to address others by theirs. You're obviously familiar with us, do we know you by some other name too. Man-up will ya.
ReplyDeleteWhat you said about SoBeale and myself actively promulgating ignorance makes no sense. The only thing we're actively promulgating is that such ignorance exists, and it exists among you and your friends.
This isn't one single incident. This is an incident that symbolizes something that happens every day - irresponsible gun handling by lawful gun owners. Own up to it.
FWM, If you don't like my calling this a "cover-up" fine, let's call it whatever you want. How about an attempt to limit the blame for this incident? How about an attempt to give the former police chief and organizer of the event a slap on the wrist instead of really holding him accountable?
"FWM, If you don't like my calling this a "cover-up" fine, let's call it whatever you want. How about an attempt to limit the blame for this incident? How about an attempt to give the former police chief and organizer of the event a slap on the wrist instead of really holding him accountable?"
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the title, I thought something previously unknown and maliciously hidden had been discovered that shed new light on the incident. I understand if you want to argue "slap on the wrist" or whatever, I just couldn't find the "cover-up" part in the story.
Dear Mr. Anonymous, Tell us your name if you want to address others by theirs. You're obviously familiar with us, do we know you by some other name too. Man-up will ya.
ReplyDeleteYour co-author, JadeGold, has a history of stalking pro-gun people and their spouses on the internet. From what I understand he even tried to get someone fired from their job. I don't blame anyone for posting to this blog as anonymous.
Your co-author, JadeGold, has a history of stalking pro-gun people and their spouses on the internet. From what I understand he even tried to get someone fired from their job.
ReplyDeleteReally? I suppose you have some evidence of this?
This case illustrates--yet again--that gunloons simply don't want to take responsibility. For anything.
This is a case where a gunloon was trying to make some cash by allowing anyone to fire a machine gun. He was willing to let an 8 year old kid kill himself and now he doesn't want to accept any responsibility. Restaurants have higher standards of accountability.
"This isn't one single incident."
ReplyDeleteLast I saw, it was indeed only one incident. Every year at Knob Creek, there are thousands upon thousand of people shooting hundreds of legally owned machine guns, and there have been no deaths that I am aware of related to it.
Jade, I'm sure, will google it and try to find something that proves me wrong. I'm feeling lazy. I'll let him do my homework.
"This is an incident that symbolizes something that happens every day - irresponsible gun handling by lawful gun owners."
If this incident was an example of every day gun owners and their bad habits, then there would be deaths like this every day, perhaps multiple deaths daily, due to incidents like the one in MA. Since there are not, your comment is wrong. Own up to it.
Anon is being silly again.
ReplyDeleteHe uses the tired old excuse--a gazillion people have done this, yet only one gets hurt.
Using that logic, we should just abandon all drunk driving laws since many, many people drive drunk but only kill others in relatively few cases.
Yes, Jade, you are finally seeing the light!
ReplyDeleteI knew you'd become a libertarian if you started to use your head.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAnon: The chances of me going libertarian are nil--I'm reality-based.
ReplyDeleteI always find it amusing that most so-called 'libertarians' adamantly refuse to live their beliefs.
Sure, Jade, deny it if you must. We know where your heart lies.
ReplyDeleteJade has been pretty upset about paying for other people’s health care. That sure is libertarian of him.
ReplyDeleteTS is wrong as usual.
ReplyDeleteI'm not upset at paying for other's healthcare---we already do. I'm upset at paying more than is necessary for healthcare.
It's not a hard concept to understand. The fact is if anyone--even the uninsured--show up at an ER, they'll get medical treatment. Problem is, going to the ER is ultra-expensive and inefficient.
If everyone had healthcare insurance, the cost everyone pays for healthcare would go down since 50M Americans wouldn't be using the ER for their source of medical care.
Anonymous @6:10 is probably the same anonymous who shits in Southern Beale's blog from time to time. Jesus, dude, you got the gunz and you're STILL a coward?
ReplyDeleteFWM, You're absolutely right. "Slap on the wrist" would have described it better.
ReplyDeleteOne of the Anonymouses said, "If this incident was an example of every day gun owners and their bad habits, then there would be deaths like this every day."
I don't think that's true. Who ever said every single instance of irresponsible gun handling results in death? Besides there are deaths every day, are there not?
"Who ever said every single instance of irresponsible gun handling results in death?"
ReplyDeleteDidn't say that. I said:
"If this incident was an example of every day gun owners and their bad habits, then there would be deaths like this every day."
Which means, if out of millions of gun owners, and the thousands of fully automatic gun owners, there would be cases like this daily, if people handled guns poorly like you suggest.
"Besides there are deaths every day, are there not?"
And the sun rises every day, too. If we can find a way to stop it, I'm sure we could put an end to the deaths.
You're right, you didn't say every single incident of mishandling a gun would result in death.
ReplyDeleteBut, you implied that deaths don't happen every day, yet they do. Or were you limiting your "every day" happenings to 8-year-olds with Uzis?
"But, you implied that deaths don't happen every day, yet they do."
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't. Deaths do happen from guns most everyday. In fact, in a country with 300 million plus population, and a conservative estimate of 80 million legal gun owners, it would be a minor miracle if a day passed with no one, nationwide, being shot.
But, add in criminals (gangs, drug dealers, robbers, rapists, assaulters, etc) with guns, and it becomes almost impossible for a day to go by without someone getting shot.
However, incidents like the one above, where a young child is allowed to handle a firearm that is "exotic," shall we say, combined with the father's lack of knowledge which contributed to the incident, and the young teenager watching over him instead of an adult---those kind of incidents are exceedingly rare.
That was what I was implying.
Not only do they not happen every day, they don't even happen every month.
Yes, children are killed with guns, and yes sadly it does happen too often. But as always, we differ as to what can and should be done about it.
Children die every day because of a multitude of causes, and in almost every case the parent wasn't being responsible, or wasn't paying attention. A kid that dies because he ingested bleach is just as dead as the kid that dies because his older sibling found a gun and shot him. Both are tragic, and both are entirely preventable, and more laws are not the answer in either case.