9 year old girl shoots instructor with uzi

[xd ED]

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/graphic-video-shown-in-boys-uzi-death/1d0z7d6pt <-2008 Shooting Death / Trial

[urlhttp://wgntv.com/2014/08/27/police-girl-9-firing-uzi-at-shooting-range-accidentally-kills-instructor/]Edit: Looks like the ex-police chief was found not guilty of manslaughter[/url]

Looks like the NRA got in the spotlight posting to twitter:

http://rt.com/usa/183484-nra-shooting-range-child/

The "Uzi' pictured bears a striking resemblance to a MAC-10.

[xd ED]

I'd say you almost have to have the gun fixed to allow an inexperienced/weak/bad shooter handle it. You might as well put and angry cat in a box and expect the range officer to be able to handle it.

Something like this:

Yeah. because firearms and aggressive animals both have violent instincts.

[LePetomane]

The responsibility lies with the parents, pure and simple. My dad taught me to safely handle a firearm and he did so by being reasonable. By that I mean rimfires until I was 14 and then gradually moving into the big stuff. I did the same with my kids. By the age of 16 they were shooting a .357 magnum accurately and safety wasn't in question.

My guess is that this kids father is a first class jerk for suggesting that his daughter shoot an Uzi. If I am not mistaken even the Israeli military has abandoned this weapon preferring something a little safer.

[Rip Van Winkle]

The "Uzi' pictured bears a striking resemblance to a MAC-10.

That's because it is.

[xd ED]

The responsibility lies with the parents, pure and simple. My dad taught me to safely handle a firearm and he did so by being reasonable. By that I mean rimfires until I was 14 and then gradually moving into the big stuff. I did the same with my kids. By the age of 16 they were shooting a .357 magnum accurately and safety wasn't in question.

My guess is that this kids father is a first class jerk for suggesting that his daughter shoot an Uzi. If I am not mistaken even the Israeli military has abandoned this weapon preferring something a little safer.

Yes, parents are responsible for their kids safety and behavior. But how much could you blame dad if the little girl had been injured in an amusement park ride?
Should dad have scaled the Ferris wheel with a torque wrench checking every fastener before allowing her to ride?
My guess is the place this happened was something of a tourist attraction, given it was 'Guns and burgers', or some such place.
Dad was probably openminded enough to let his kid shoot a gun in what would be reasonable to assume was a controlled environment. Better than dad saying GUNS??!!?? Oh, Dear, no- run away run away.

Now if dad was simply looking for a little 'me time' at the bar, and told his kid to grab that Uzi and go see Bubba over there, that's another issue.

As far as one gun being safer than another, really?
More accurate, more mission appropriate, easier to learn, perhaps. But the last thing any military needs is a gun that is less likely to hurt someone.
I think the US military trend, post Viet Nam, is less full-auto, spray-and-pray, in favor of semi-auto, and short burst-firing weapons.

[Ghost]

The responsibility lies with the parents, pure and simple. My dad taught me to safely handle a firearm and he did so by being reasonable.

No, a parent whom hires a supposedly trained professional to teach their child is not at fault. Just because your parents were slower with you means nothing. I had guns when younger than her but I'm not going to compare skill sets as we are all different, we know nothing about her background likely neither did the trainer. This would have been a non issue had the safety rules been followed, had the trainer been better able to assist (wrong side) and had he worked her up instead of oh look she can pull a trigger time for the happy switch. Hindsight and all that, the trainer made mistakes and it cost him dearly.

[LePetomane]

Ghost, here is where I disagree with you. There is a difference between hiring a trained professional to teach your kid to play the piano and hiring one to teach her to shoot a gun. If the parents would have said "no" in the first place we would not be hearing about it. Too many parents are lax with their kids. They want to be their kid's "buddy" instead of a source of guidance.

[xd ED]

If the range operator/ instructor/ officer had performed to a reasonable expectation we would not be having this discussion.

[tenmilmag]

The "range officer" was either not present or incompetent. Certainly the establishment is at fault here. And they damn well deserve a heavy hand.

I agree with xd Ed: "we would not be having this discussion" !!!

[Nougat]

I saw a video of a range once where they had cabling attached to a pistol that a full grown was learning to use, they made the lady handle it to their standards empty before allowing it to go live even with that safety measure(assuming the cables prevent it getting turned around)in place.

[LePetomane]

Here is what it comes down to: Would you allow your 9 year old shoot an Uzi in the automatic mode? I sure wouldn't!

[Nougat]

Here is what it comes down to: Would you allow your 9 year old shoot an Uzi in the automatic mode? I sure wouldn't!

only as much as I'd let them steer the car, that is if I could even handle the thing well myself

[xd ED]

Here is what it comes down to: Would you allow your 9 year old shoot an Uzi in the automatic mode? I sure wouldn't!

Unsupervised, I would not, and you would not, then why did the guy handing her the gun do so?
The driving amnalogy is an excellent one.

Children are routinely exposed to new, equally hazardous experiences under safe circumstances and do fine. It's part of learning.

[BigBlue]

Here is what it comes down to: Would you allow your 9 year old shoot an Uzi in the automatic mode? I sure wouldn't!

Here's what it comes down to: Would you like the government to forcibly deny everyone the ability to allow their child to shoot one or would you want the parent to choose whether circumstances warranted having their child shoot the gun (experienced child shooter, competent instruction, safe environment)? We have too many laws and too many restrictions. We don't need more. You can't prevent every accident. Bad circumstances lead to bad situations and that sucks, but eliminating any ability to do something in the name of hoping you avoid that one issue is WRONG. If this were a rampant problem with people dying by the dozens then maybe this would warrant attention. It does not.

BB

[ericinmn1970]

Here's what it comes down to: Would you like the government to forcibly deny everyone the ability to allow their child to shoot one or would you want the parent to choose whether circumstances warranted having their child shoot the gun (experienced child shooter, competent instruction, safe environment)? We have too many laws and too many restrictions. We don't need more. You can't prevent every accident. Bad circumstances lead to bad situations and that sucks, but eliminating any ability to do something in the name of hoping you avoid that one issue is WRONG. If this were a rampant problem with people dying by the dozens then maybe this would warrant attention. It does not.
BB

I agree that the government doesn't need to step in and provide additional regulations or attempt to ban under 18 year old people from gun ranges. But having said that, I think this warrants attention. I've heard and read it said among people in the "gun community" that we need to sometimes eat our own. Where's the NRA? Our supposed champions of gun safety and education for our youth, as far as I know, haven't said a peep.