Trigger-happy reveler charged with murder

Turkey's Supreme Court of Appeals issued a landmark ruling that is expected to deal a blow to celebratory gunfire common at Turkish wedding parties. The ruling called for up to 25 years in prison for a teenager who killed one when he fired his gun in celebration at such a party in Samsun, a Black Sea province.

The reason for the ruling was that celebratory gunfire that ends up killing people should be deemed as a crime of "deliberate killing" instead of "involuntary manslaughter" as a lower court ruled in the case.

The defendant, identified only as K. A. as he was below the legal age of 18, attended a wedding party in 2010 with a pistol belonging to his father. He joined a crowd of revelers firing blanks and live ammunition into the air as part of a dangerous tradition prevalent in the region. When his gun jammed, the boy moved to push the slide back to reload but the pistol went off and shot dead a nearby wedding guest.

A court in Samsun ruled that the death of the victim constituted the crime of involuntary manslaughter, which carried a five-year prison term after reductions were added. The court ruled that it cannot be regarded as a homicide as the defendant held his gun parallel to the ground during the reloading instead of pointing it at anyone.

In reply to an appeal by the victim's family, the Supreme Court overturned the earlier ruling and said the defendant should have been aware of the consequences of his actions when he fired his gun at random in a crowded place. The lower court is required to uphold the ruling and the defendant now faces up to 25 years in prison, although he may benefit from a reduction in his sentence due to a lack of past convictions and his age at the time of incident.

Firing guns into the air on any occasion to celebrate, be it a wedding party or a league win of a football team, is widespread in Turkey despite that it often causes deaths. In 2010, a bridegroom who attempted to fire a Kalashnikov rifle into the air killed his father and two aunts in the southeastern city of Gaziantep.