Machine Gun Owner Shoots Self in Accident

A 20-year-old Canyon Country man who accidentally shot himself Monday with a newly purchased automatic pistol faces charges under a new state law prohibiting possession of such weapons, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported. Jacob Cohen was in stable condition at Holy Cross Hospital Medical Center in Granada Hills with three gunshots wounds, Lt. Harvey Cantor said.

Cohen called for help on a 911 telephone line about 12:15 p.m. and told deputies he was cleaning a fully automatic 9mm pistol when the gun accidentally discharged 12 rounds in his living room, Cantor said. “He lost control of it and was shot in the left hand, foot and leg,” Cantor said.

Cohen told deputies he had bought the gun two days earlier from a man in Los Angeles, Cantor said. Deputies who went to Cohen’s home confiscated the weapon and also found an AK-47 assault rifle and a small amount of heroin, according to authorities.

Though Cohen was not arrested because of his condition, deputies said they will ask the district attorney’s office to file drug possession and weapons charges against him, Cantor said. Cohen’s purchase and possession of the machine pistol was illegal under a state automatic-weapons law that took effect Jan. 1, Cantor said. The incident is still under investigation.