To wonder what kind of idiot teaches a 9-year-old to use an Uzi

[BadLad]

m.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28948946

A 9-year-old kills her shooting instructor when she loses control of the Uzi he is teaching her to use.

Apparently many (that's right, many) firing ranges have strict rules when teaching children.

Oh well, that's all right then, what was I worried about?

desert storm and shock and Awe

Yep that went well.

Someone very close to me killed someone by accident aged 16.

It has absolutely fucked his life up. Spent his early adulthood in young offenders and then adult prisons.

The guilt and the trauma has led to a major mental illness which he'll probably never fully recover from.

God knows what it's going to do psychologically to a 9 yr old.

Rainbunny

"I've lived in the US for 13 years and I have never even seen a gun"

So the police in California don't carry guns then? I live in London and I see police with guns fairly regularly e.g. outside 10 Downing St, at the airport and randomly at one of the big train stations a couple of months ago. And yet you have never ever seen a gun in California?

The US Constitution has a right to bear arms, that is not a generalisation about a country, it's just how it is. That doesn't mean everyone in the country thinks that is a good idea or exercises that right but it is a right that people have. That will have an impact on people's perception of guns - I find them scary because in Britain there are very few legitimate reasons for having a gun, so they are not part of the general culture. If I lived in a farming community my view of shotguns might be different because they are a practical item or tool.

Aga have you seen "Bowling for Columbine"? If you haven't, you should. I thought Obama seemed genuine when he talked about getting a grip on gun control after Sandy Hook but nothing seems to have changed. I also read that quite a lot of Americans believed that the answer to preventing a similar tragedy was to arm all teachers .
I saw a comedian recently who summed the whole thing up when he asked an American audience member if they thought there was any connection between lots and lots of Americans having guns (pause) and lots and lots of Americans getting shot.
I absolutely take the point that not all Americans think this way but it's so depressing when a substantial part of the population can't or won't see what everyone else can.

But Rainbunny the whole 'right to bear arms' thing is in the United States constitution. So while attitudes may vary from the state to state, being able to buy guns easily and throw them about willy nilly is very much a USA thing.

Chaz- You know what, I am sure I have been in the presence of a gun when I have observed a police officer, but to be honest I have never "seen" one and frankly I cannot remember the last time I saw a police officer. The closest I come to seeing police officers would be when a patrol car drives past, I guess the officers inside the car are armed -does that count for you? Other than that, no I haven't seen a civilian with a gun here. Ever.

My point is that some of the posts here are making huge generalizations about the US being a dangerous gun-filled place when the reality is that many parts of the country have no gun culture.

I had high hopes for Obama too; particularly in regards to the death penalty but sad fact is, many states want more access to guns not less and more people put to death (often for using those guns to kill people) so he knows he'll lose a lot of support.

Apparently California has the most restrictive gun laws in the states. However these are being challenged as unconstitutional.

According to Wikipedia anyway.

m.nationalreview.com/corner/386253/californias-firearms-waiting-period-deemed-unconstitutional-charles-c-w-cooke

California is twice the size of the UK? In what sense?

Area. In terms of population it has roughly 60% of the UK population. If California were to be a country in its own right, it would be the eight largest economy in the world.

ArgyMargy It's not twice the size, it's almost twice the size, which is what Rainbunny actually said.

California 163,696 sq miles
UK 94,058 sq miles

so it's a heck of a lot larger.

What kind of idiot - a dead one apparently...
That's a hard lesson to learn.

What stupid foolish parents. Gun laws in America are ridiculous this highlights the attitude of many how sad for his family and for the girl who has to love with this. How can you compare adults involved in dangerous sports with teaching how to use a weapon to kill

I have heard of a number of shootings in California the last few weeks it's a huge problem when around 20% of people have a gun

You can not smoke in any public area in California but you can carry a gun (concealed)

"Aga have you seen "Bowling for Columbine"? If you haven't, you should."

I have, I think Michael Moore tends to play fast and loose with facts, it's propaganda as much as the NRA.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/10/christopher-biziljs-famil_n_351732.html

This case is possibly even more shocking and weird from 2008. An 8 year old boy killed accidentally himself when he was learning to shoot an uzi at a gun show and the instructor was also a child himself!!!

Sorry - accidentally killed himself....I was editing and didn't proofread.

She's a minor and it was accidental but she did kill someone. What will happen to her?

I feel sorry for her, due to the stupidity of her parents, she's going to carry the trauma of killing someone for the rest of her life

How is the size (land area) of California relevant here? What did I miss?

The first time I went to orlando we went to wallgreens for some drinks and crisps oh we could also pick up a gun thats like nipping into spar oh bread milk and gun

I think the previous poster was talking about California's land mass in comparison to the UK because in the UK we forgot just how vast the US is.

I have connections to Texas which is just one state but is bigger than the whole of the UK. Yorkshire has the same laws and systems as London - states in the US are governed differently and are separate entities in many ways.

In the UK you only have to travel a few hours to be in completely different countries whereas in the US you can drive/fly for hours and still be in the same state.

And all states have their own systems and laws. It IS unfair to consider the entire US to have the same cultures/attitudes because they don't.

Rainbunnny said The US is only a little bit smaller than Europe and culture and attitudes vary largely by state. I live in California which is almost twice the size of the UK alone.

You said California is twice the size of the UK? In what sense?

Several of us replied. It seems you were not actually looking for the answer to the question you asked, however, but asking how that was relevant. OK, it's relevant only inasmuch as we don't expect cultural attitudes to be identical across Europe, so why do people generalise about the US as if everybody there is the same.

What kind of idiot? A dead one in this case.

Obviously different states have different laws. However, the 'right to bear arms' is based on an interpretation of the constitution and the right of an individual state to make its own restrictive gun laws is being challenged because of this.

Gun lobbyists aren't confined to a few 'backwards' states. I am willing to believe that the number of 'anti-gun' Americans exceeds the population of the uk. It's just doesn't seem to be enough.

Gosh, we are snippy aren't we mimsy? Yes I was looking for the answer to my question, because if rainbunny was going to claim that California was bigger than the UK in terms of population, that would clearly have been wrong. The land mass comparison is a different thing entirely and I'm not sure how relevant. We wouldn't try to suggest that Western Australian cultural attitudes towards guns are totally different to Eastern Australians would we? Or would we? Australia is just under 3m square miles.