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?

[MrsWinnibago]

Aga guns are stupid. So are some Americans...and yes OMG GUNS! Guns are shit.

[AllotmentQueen]

Latte, the kick back on one of those guns can be horrendous - my brother worked at a summer camp in Amercia about 20 years ago and refused to go on the gun range precisely because of things like this. And they weren't using Uzis.

It is beyond moronic - the whole thing just beggars belief.

When will America wake up to the danger guns pose?

[AllotmentQueen]

Aga, it is the whole culture of teaching kids to shoot - and "the right to bear arms" that is so stupid.

You will never convince me otherwise.

[Onesleeptillwembley]

I don't mind older children being taught gun safety for sporting reasons. Or hunting to live. Or even, as someone put in another comment about this, if they live in an are with bears, etc.
But the only use for an Uzi is to shoot as many bullets, therefore as many people as possible in a confined space. What sort of fuckwit thinks letting a child handle that is necessary or sport or fun. The whole gun culture in the US sickens me. How many school shootings so far this year?

[AgaPanthers]

This has got nothing to do with teaching kids to shoot, nor the right to bear arms!!!

The girl comes from New Jersey and she was just doing something fun on her Las Vegas vacation.

You might as well say that a 3-year-old child riding a quad bike in Benidorm is learning how to drive, he isn't.

I did skydiving once, a tandem jump, and I by no means would claim that I was taught to parachute jump.

[AgaPanthers]

Onesleeptillwembley, that's ridiculous, you might as well say clay pigeon shooting is about shooting actual pigeons. There are no live targets in shooting ranges.

Why do people want to drive a Ferrari when a Vauxhall Corsa does the same job?

[Mrsjayy]

Yeah its a hoot she killed somebody what fun

[AgaPanthers]

People die riding bicycles, while camping, rock climbing, and many other things. That doesn't make those activities not fun, just because there is a risk of death (probably much higher than at a shooting range).

[Onesleeptillwembley]

Not ridiculous at all. Nobody mentioned live targets in ranges. I'll type it slowly so even you can follow. They are reasons I would find teaching a child to handle an (appropriate) gun reasonable.

[squoosh]

A 9 year old should never be put in charge of a lethal weapon as part of a 'fun' holiday outing.

[Mrsjayy]

She killed somebody with a machine gun you cant seriously be comparing rock climbing to a machine gun

[AuntieStella]

I don't mind shooting as a sport, or as something preferred or necessary for certain roles.

But I think it's plain wrong to put a weapon that powerful in the hands of a nine year old child. An Uzi isn't remotely like the sort of air-rifle a child might be able to use here, or the standard rifle used by (13+) cadets.

I was left wondering why the instructor permitted it. With hindsight, it seems so obvious that she was too small to handle the recoil. Why did the instructor not think of this whilst he was correcting her (rather wobbly) stance? Or is that a straightforward matter of differences in training and range procedures between countries?

[Gruntfuttock]

You think that giving a 9 yr old child a loaded submachine gun to fire = "just doing something fun on her Las Vegas vacation."?

Un-fucking-believable!

[AllotmentQueen]

What an absolutely ludicrous comparison Aga!!!!!

Guns are responsible for horrific crimes in America - some accidental some deliberate.

Comparing that with learning to sky dive is just bizarre.

It's a culture where guns are normalised.

The only thing guns are used for is killing - people, animals, whatever.

And thousands will continue to die needlessly in America until this simple truth is understood.

[squoosh]

Yes people die riding bikes, camping and rock climbing but they don't usually manage to kill other people in the process.

[Mrsjayy]

The fact you can pop into a tourist attraction and pick up a uzi is fucking ridiculous that poor child has to live with that forever

[Onesleeptillwembley]

Well BadLad I think you have your answer right here on this thread.

[AllMimsyWereTheBorogoves]

I think this incident has shown that there are live targets in shooting ranges, namely the human beings standing around while tiny children struggle to control submachine guns. I'm with onesleep on this one. Who needs to know how to use an Uzi other than the military?

[differentnameforthis]

I just hope the little girl is not traumatised by the event. She shot a man in the head, at close range. Pretty sure she will be traumatised.

She has to live with that for the rest of her life.

At least the instructor wont be teaching anyone else on using weapons, making their country safer. Bad taste!

it's just a fun thing people do on holiday. What the fuck? FUN? No, a fun thing on holiday is not shooting a fucking gun at 9yrs old! It's staying up a little later, it's having a picnic on the beach, it's going into the penny arcade, eating candy floss, having a donkey ride. Shooting a fucking gun is a fun holiday activity for a 9yr old! The mind boggles!

[Shakirasma]

Sub machine guns were invented for one reason- to kill people.

Why the heck anybody would want to use one for "fun", let alone allow a child to do so, is beyond me. The fact that some people see this as a normal thing actually sickens me.

[AgaPanthers]

Climbing is very dangerous, certainly far more so than shooting. If you look at top climbers, a great proportion of them die (or at least suffer serious injuries) in the course of their hobby.

I am not sure what the exact parameters/recoil of the Uzi are, but as the shooting ranges advertise it for 8+, I'm sure they have some considerable experience, more so than I or others on this thread, with handling it.

It just looks like the instructor made an error, and he died. Instructor errors cause deaths in every hobby, shooting is nothing unusual in that regard.

[AgaPanthers]

squoosh, you might want to look at the global motor vehicle death toll, most of the deaths are to third parties.

I see people driving like cunts every day, just this morning I saw a car shoot a red light and almost run over a cyclist.

There is really nothing wrong with people using a rifle, a machine gun, a bazooka, or whatever else, on a shooting range providing it is done safely.

[Gruntfuttock]

The fact that you can compare giving a child a submachine gun to climbing and even then say that climbing is more dangerous is the most mindboggling thing I've ever read on this board.

[BarbarianMum]

Giving a 9 year old an Uzi is negligent and stupid.

Ditto giving a small child control over a dune buggy, or jet ski or car.

Whatever you think about guns as holiday entertainment, some things are age appropriate and some things aren't. This wasn't, and it was quite possibly "lucky" that only the instruxctor was killed.

[squoosh]

I'm aware of that thanks but don't really see the relevance here.