LanceOregon
Moderator
Have many folks here set up their own improvised shooting ranges on their own property? If so, you may want to read about this accidental shooting. For if one does not do an adequate job of addressing safety issues, one can then get into serious legal trouble if an accident should take place.
Recently, there was a trial in Vermont over an accidental shooting, where a man had set up a target range in his own backyard. In the course of simply target shooting, a round from a 30 caliber centerfire rifle traveled to his neighbor's house, penetrated the home, and killed his neighbor, John Reiss, while he was sitting down in the dining room eating his dinner.
The gun owner, 40-year-old Joe McCarthy, was a popular and well respected professor at nearby St. Michael’s College. He had never been charged with any sort of crime in his entire life. A total of 4 men shot hi-powered rifles on the improvised range that day. Prosecutors are actually not sure who fired the deadly bullet that killed Reiss. Of the 4 men, 3 fired semi-auto rifles that had been modified to shoot multiple bullets with the pull of a trigger. Forensics proved that the bullet was from a caliber 7.62x39mm Russian round fired from an SKS carbine. Because Joe McCarthy owned the land and had created the range, prosecutors felt that he was the person most directly responsible for the accident happening.
This was thus an issue of a stray bullet inadvertently striking someone. Prosecutors argued that the design of the range was inadequate for safety, and that McCarthy was thus reckless to shoot on this range he created. Jurors were taken to the range, and shown the layout of the land. The Reiss home was approximately 250 yards from the shooting bench that the rifles were fired from. Prosecutors claimed that just using old tree stumps for the backstop behind the target was seriously flawed. Would you agree with that point, regarding what constitutes a safe and responsible shooting range? In his summation, Prosecutor Justin Jiron told the jurors that someone sitting down to eat dinner shouldn’t have to worry that they’ll be shot dead from out of nowhere.
Do you think that involuntary manslaughter was the appropriate sentence? The key point of law was whether McCarthy was criminally negligent or not. If no negligence had been committed, he could have got off, or at least have received a lesser charge.
This is an issue to definitely take into very serious consideration, for anyone who designs and builds their own shooting range. What is downrange? What if there is a ricochet? How close are your neighbors? What would be the key safety issues that you would address, in setting up a range on your own property?
Vermont law gives this judge quite a bit of discretion when it comes to the sentence, which can be as little as one year in state prison, or up to a max of 15 years.
What do you think an appropriate prison sentence should be in a situation like this one? How much of a factor should the defendant's lack of any criminal record be? What about the fact that Joe McCarthy may not have even fired the lethal shot? Should the judge consider that point as well, in your opinion, in determining an appropriate sentence? How damning are the issues that the only backstop behind the targets was a tree stump, and that FMJ ammo was being used?
Here below are some links to news stories about this tragedy for further background. Was is your take on all of the above issues?
How many years should McCarthy stay in prison?
See:
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=12521256
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/...2/100519035/Jurors-visit-Essex-shooting-range
.
Recently, there was a trial in Vermont over an accidental shooting, where a man had set up a target range in his own backyard. In the course of simply target shooting, a round from a 30 caliber centerfire rifle traveled to his neighbor's house, penetrated the home, and killed his neighbor, John Reiss, while he was sitting down in the dining room eating his dinner.
The gun owner, 40-year-old Joe McCarthy, was a popular and well respected professor at nearby St. Michael’s College. He had never been charged with any sort of crime in his entire life. A total of 4 men shot hi-powered rifles on the improvised range that day. Prosecutors are actually not sure who fired the deadly bullet that killed Reiss. Of the 4 men, 3 fired semi-auto rifles that had been modified to shoot multiple bullets with the pull of a trigger. Forensics proved that the bullet was from a caliber 7.62x39mm Russian round fired from an SKS carbine. Because Joe McCarthy owned the land and had created the range, prosecutors felt that he was the person most directly responsible for the accident happening.
This was thus an issue of a stray bullet inadvertently striking someone. Prosecutors argued that the design of the range was inadequate for safety, and that McCarthy was thus reckless to shoot on this range he created. Jurors were taken to the range, and shown the layout of the land. The Reiss home was approximately 250 yards from the shooting bench that the rifles were fired from. Prosecutors claimed that just using old tree stumps for the backstop behind the target was seriously flawed. Would you agree with that point, regarding what constitutes a safe and responsible shooting range? In his summation, Prosecutor Justin Jiron told the jurors that someone sitting down to eat dinner shouldn’t have to worry that they’ll be shot dead from out of nowhere.
Do you think that involuntary manslaughter was the appropriate sentence? The key point of law was whether McCarthy was criminally negligent or not. If no negligence had been committed, he could have got off, or at least have received a lesser charge.
This is an issue to definitely take into very serious consideration, for anyone who designs and builds their own shooting range. What is downrange? What if there is a ricochet? How close are your neighbors? What would be the key safety issues that you would address, in setting up a range on your own property?
Vermont law gives this judge quite a bit of discretion when it comes to the sentence, which can be as little as one year in state prison, or up to a max of 15 years.
What do you think an appropriate prison sentence should be in a situation like this one? How much of a factor should the defendant's lack of any criminal record be? What about the fact that Joe McCarthy may not have even fired the lethal shot? Should the judge consider that point as well, in your opinion, in determining an appropriate sentence? How damning are the issues that the only backstop behind the targets was a tree stump, and that FMJ ammo was being used?
Here below are some links to news stories about this tragedy for further background. Was is your take on all of the above issues?
How many years should McCarthy stay in prison?
See:
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=12521256
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/...2/100519035/Jurors-visit-Essex-shooting-range
.
Last edited: