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Uzi death
August 27, 2014 at 9:26 am
Gun instructor accidentally shot dead by nine-year-old girl with Uzi gun -
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/...92843.html
Is this sort of thing normal in America? Why does a 9 year old need to know how to use an automatic weapon?
Surely if a child wants to get into shooting you give them an air rifle or send them paintballing. I just don't understand these types of Americans.
I did like this comment: "The parents should not be blamed, they were busy supervising her 5 year old brother who was being taught to launch tactical nuclear weapons!"
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RE: Uzi death
August 27, 2014 at 9:30 am
(August 27, 2014 at 9:26 am)FreeTony Wrote: Is this sort of thing normal in America? Normal? No. Surprising? Sadly... also no.
In a nation of 330 million people with a superiority complex, the number of magnificently stupid specimens is probably higher than expected.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
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RE: Uzi death
August 27, 2014 at 9:37 am
(August 27, 2014 at 9:26 am)FreeTony Wrote: Surely if a child wants to get into shooting you give them an air rifle or send them paintballing. I just don't understand these types of Americans.
I think a similar thing happened a few years back when a young boy ended up shooting himself. I think that might have been an Uzi too.
It does seem strange to me to hand somebody so young something like that. Like you said an air rifle seems a far better starting point if they want to shoot something. No recoil, and a lot less danger.
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RE: Uzi death
August 27, 2014 at 10:14 am
(This post was last modified: August 27, 2014 at 10:14 am by Napoléon.)
Yeah, as a Brit, hell just as a human being in general, I find this sort of thing absolutely bizarre. At the risk of sounding ultra douchey, when is America going to fuckin' learn?
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RE: Uzi death
August 27, 2014 at 10:25 am
I had my own .410 shotgun at that age & knew how to handle it safely as well as clean it. I wasn't however handling fully automatic weapons. It was stupid of that instructor to let her handle that weapon without knowing if she could handle the recoil.
"How is it that a lame man does not annoy us while a lame mind does? Because a lame man recognizes that we are walking straight, while a lame mind says that it is we who are limping." - Pascal
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RE: Uzi death
August 27, 2014 at 10:31 am
I was at a camp in Prescott, AZ in 1989 and fired a .22 rifle, IIRC. I was maybe 13. At one point, while in prone, I dropped it and it fired. No one was hurt. I was horrified, but the instructors put me at ease.
Truth be told, I am pro-gun rights to an extent. But I do not own a gun and am not licensed. I know very little of gun culture. So, I'm not sure what sort of gun eduction should happen at what time. Terrible accident. I hope she gets the help she needs to deal with it.
"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan
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RE: Uzi death
August 27, 2014 at 10:32 am
As George Carlin noted;
think about how stupid the average American is, and then realize, half of them are dumber.
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RE: Uzi death
August 27, 2014 at 10:33 am
Seriously don't understand the vehement opposition to background checks for gun ownership (and I own 4 guns!). It's just like the state revoking your driver's license if you keep endangering other people.
In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty.
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RE: Uzi death
August 27, 2014 at 10:41 am
(This post was last modified: August 27, 2014 at 10:44 am by Jaysyn.)
(August 27, 2014 at 10:33 am)FatAndFaithless Wrote: Seriously don't understand the vehement opposition to background checks for gun ownership (and I own 4 guns!). It's just like the state revoking your driver's license if you keep endangering other people.
1.) Driving is a privilege not a right, as such it's not enumerated in our Constitution.
2.) The government has the right to regulate who is allowed to drive on their roads. You do not need a license on a privately owned road.
2.) Felons are already not allowed to own firearms (at least in my state).
3.) There are already background checks for most firearm purchases, private owners & gun shows being major loopholes.
4.) There is a real fear about using the lists generated by these background checks to assist the FedGov in rounding up people who own firearms. You can't even say something like this could never happen, because it did happen with regard to US Census data being used to put Japanese Americans into internment camps during WW2.
"How is it that a lame man does not annoy us while a lame mind does? Because a lame man recognizes that we are walking straight, while a lame mind says that it is we who are limping." - Pascal
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RE: Uzi death
August 27, 2014 at 10:41 am
" Ronald Scott, a firearms safety expert, said most shooting ranges have an age limit and strict safety rules when teaching children to shoot. He said instructors usually have their hands on guns when children are firing high-powered weapons.
"You can't give a 9-year-old an Uzi and expect her to control it," he said. "
As a Conservative(ish) Gun-whore 'Murcan myself, I say that Guns Are Good. But, way too many Conservative 'Murcans will hand their kid just about anything these days. Gee, would you hand your kid a bottle of whiskey and tell them to "drink responsible"?
Guns have been a serious part of being 'Murcan ever since the end of the Civil War, when soldiers were allowed to retain their service arms. Something REALLY BIG is going to have to happen in order to achieve the Liberal dream of being basically Japanese on gun laws.
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