CNN iReport

Recently an 8 year-old Connecticut boy shot himself in the head with a fully automatic Uzi during a Machine Gun Shoot in Westfield Massachusetts. The boy had attended the Gun Club sponsored Shoot with his father and older brother and had begged permission to shoot the Uzi. The father gave the child permission and a firearms instructor employed by the club handed the child the weapon. The force of the recoil forced the barrel upwards causing the child to shoot himself in the head. He later died of his wounds.

I am a lifetime member of the NRA and have been active in shooting competitions, hunting, and the military all my life. That said the father is not to blame here. The shooting instructor is 100% at fault in this incident. Despite any insistence in allowing his child to shoot the Uzi, the instructor should have had the judgment and the moral courage to tell the father "No, he is too small." Regardless of the father's or the child's desire it was the responsibility of the instructor to ensure a safe environment at the gun club. An 8 year-old is clearly not strong enough to handle a fully automatic weapon freehand.

This does not mean there is anything wrong with teaching an 8 year-old how to shoot. A .22 rifle and a .410 shotgun are excellent firearms for a young child to learn on. If the kid really wanted to shoot the Uzi and his father approved, the instructor should have mounted the gun to a fixed bracket on a table or a bench. That would have been safe. Otherwise, keep the big guns away from the kiddies. Unfortunately for responsible gun owners like myself and my friends and family, a tragic incident like this is likely to result in a knee jerk reaction of anti-gun legislation. It is a pity that the majority of us must suffer for the marginal few who lack sound judgment and proper training. For employing this instructor this particular club should get banned, not guns in general.