Fatal Accident @ Knob Creek MG Shoot
Mike Newsome
#
# BTW, even with the slow motors, a Minigun develops a
# sustained recoil impulse of over 300 lbs. So unless
# your name is Arnold or Jesse "The Body" Ventura, use
# a mount.
#
Friday Oct 13th 1995 Knob Creek Machinegun Shoot
@ West Point KY. Fatal Accident occurred when
a young girl/woman was killed when firing three
miniguns simultaneously, which were owned by Mr.
Neil Smith (below), which caused the M3 Tripod,
upon which they were mounted, to flip backwards.
She was killed when the guns and mount struck
and crushed her skull.
# The M134 used in Predator and T2 was built by Neal E.
# Smith of Mentor, Ohio, and is owned by Stembridge Gun
# Rentals, Glendale, CA.
#
I was at Knob Creek at the time this occured but
did not eye witness the actual event as I was
at the submachinegun competition range. However,
I returned to the main firing line to observe
the arrival of police cars and ambulance. The
body was covered but still on the ground.
David C. Prall
## sustained recoil impulse of over 300 lbs. So unless
## your name is Arnold or Jesse "The Body" Ventura, use
## a mount.
# a young girl/woman was killed when firing three
# miniguns simultaneously, which were owned by Mr.
# Neil Smith (below), which caused the M3 Tripod,
# upon which they were mounted, to flip backwards.
# She was killed when the guns and mount struck
# and crushed her skull.
#
# I was at Knob Creek at the time this occured but
# at the submachinegun competition range. However,
# I returned to the main firing line to observe
# the arrival of police cars and ambulance. The
# body was covered but still on the ground.
I was about 15 feet from the gun when this happened. It started to move
backwards then picked up to a 30 degree angle when all weight left it and
instantly went to 90 degrees then about 110 degrees, whereupon it ran out
of ammo.
I filmed a number of people shooting the gun/guns and all of them
seemed a little scared except for Neil Smith when he fired it. On
saturday both of the other mini-guns seemed to sprout sandbags.
I remember when I was 12 and my brother was having a birthday party, my
parents decided it would be OK to take my brothers friends to shoot
machine guns. They made all of the parents give their OK before hand and
would only load a max of thirty rounds at a time. I remember a number of 9
year olds grabbing on to the trigger and not releasing it until the gun
was empty. The range remembers it as well since about 40 rounds from a
MAC10 went into the ceiling on 4 different occasions.
Sorry, about the above paragraph but my newsreader requires more added
text then included text. Plus, it is what seems to have happened.
--
David Prall d...@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu
"Hickory dickory dock my daddy's nuts from shellshock. Humpty dumpty thought
he was wise till gas came along and burned out his eyes. A diller a dollar a
ten o'clock scholar blow off his legs and watch him holler. Rockabye baby in
the treetop don't stop a bomb or you'll probably flop. Now I lay me down to
sleep my bombproof cellar's good and deep but if I'm killed before I wake
remember god it's for your sake amen." Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo
Robert D. Elliott
## kmm...@ix.netcom.com (Kristopher M. Means )
##
##
#
# Friday Oct 13th 1995 Knob Creek Machinegun Shoot
# @ West Point KY. Fatal Accident occurred when
# a young girl/woman was killed when firing three
# miniguns simultaneously, which were owned by Mr.
# Neil Smith (below), which caused the M3 Tripod,
# upon which they were mounted, to flip backwards.
# She was killed when the guns and mount struck
# and crushed her skull.
#
# ro...@miken.shands.ufl.edu
#
Did you know that WAVE TV3 first reported that the girl lost control of the guns, they continued
to fire, and spun around and shot her three times in the head? WAVE TV3 is the WORST antigun TV
station in the country IMHO.
===================
ell...@iglou.com
-Don't tread on me-
===================
Stephen D. Grant
I did not see the actual accident either.
However, I understand that the victim was a 10-year-old girl
(the reported daughter of Neil Smiths best friend).
I have gone to Knob Creek every spring and fall for 5 years now. And
one thing I always noticed was the lousy quality of the security.
Seems like the money hungry Ken Sumner would rather have tobacco-chewing
12 year-olds running security than to pay for competent people.
By the way, this fall for the first time, they started charging $10 to
camp out. This has always been free in the past. You'd think with $7 a head
to get in, $1 for an 8oz cola, and $2 for a hotdog, they'd be making enough
money. But no, greed has reared its ugly head. Ken Sumner wants it all.
I for one don't know if I'll ever camp there again. I have set up tables as
a dealer in the past, but I'm going to write Ken a nasty letter about his
trashing of the atmosphere that used to preside at KCR. HIgher ticket fees,
higher vendor fees, higher shooting fees, camping fees fo nothing more than
a small sqaure plot of rough field.
Knob Creek is still a fun and worthy event. Everyone should go at least once.
But the owner (Ken Sumner) is trying his besst to ruin it.
I watched a .50 cal machinegun barrel actually MELT and droop while a guy
was trying to ram a round into the chamber and fire it a couple years ago.
I have seen 12-year-olds spraying FA Uzi-fire at the ground 3-feet in front
of them with a left and right swinging motion. Its a miracle this is the
first fatal accident IMHO. Last year, the top off of a 55-gallon drum flew
300 yards and hit a spectator a couple feet from me. The bottom line is;
the security and range rules need to be changed, improved and enforced better!
Lets see, $60 for each shooter (appx 300) = $18,000, $40 for each table rented
= appx. $8,000, $7 for each visitor appx. $210,000 (at least 30k over 4 days),
figure at least a paltry $10,000 for food and beverage sales, the entry fees for
the matches, sales of ammo and accerssories in their gun-store, $10 per camp-\
site, on and on.. whats that?...over $250k at least for one weekend.
And thats still not enough. Tsk tsk...
John Vause
#In article <m0t4lQf-000AYAC@miken>, root@miken (Mike Newsome) wrote:
### kmm...@ix.netcom.com (Kristopher M. Means )
###
#>SNIP<<
#Did you know that WAVE TV3 first reported that the girl lost control of the guns, they continued
#to fire, and spun around and shot her three times in the head? WAVE TV3 is the WORST antigun TV
#station in the country IMHO.
#===================
# ell...@iglou.com
#-Don't tread on me-
#===================
I heard the initial reports on WHAS. They also reported she was shot
in the face. I have learned that when the media reports ANYTHING
having to do with firearms, it is best to wait about 6 hours before
trusting their reports.
They also reported that the minigun (single) had 18 barrels, NOT that
it was a 3 minigun cluster mount. I learned that here. I kind of
wondered when GE built an 18 barrel mini-gun. :-)
jdv
--
*********************************************************************
* Defenselessness is a crime which generates it's own punishment. *
* The four boxes of Freedom: Soap, Ballot, Jury, and Ammo. *
*********************************************************************