9-year old accidentally shoots instructor with Uzi

Putting all taste aside (and we must do this the minute some moron takes it upon themselves to teach a nine-year old how to use an Uzi), the best prevention for this type of thing happening again is one of those side by side photos of THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON...

Maybe a caption THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON READING TO KIDS with a photo of man with a child in his lap turning pages in a book, alongside a caption of THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON TEACHING A NINE-YEAR OLD HOW TO USE AN UZI with a photo of a man with his head blown open, in a pool of blood.

This story would have made me sickeningly irate, even if it ended with the man going home alive without injury. What is wrong with a world that thinks it's okay to teach a nine-year old how to use an Uzi? What is wrong with the kid's parents, what is wrong with a society that doesn't have laws against it, what is wrong with an instructor who thinks it's a good idea?

Not one person in Canada died yesterday while teaching a nine-year old how to use an Uzi.

In a controlled environment like a well-managed shooting range, I don't see a problem with letting children experience a perfectly legal activity. There are laws surrounding fully automatic weapons that may come into play here, but otherwise, we allow children to engage in supervised risky activity.

I feel sorry for the girl. She's going to blame herself for this, and she has no blame to take on. I hope she gets counseling. Fast and intensive.

This incident is entirely on the instructor. Single fire recoil is NOTHING like full-auto recoil. For the first use, the instructor should have had her arm under control the entire time. And if the facility allows their instructors to simply sit back like this, the facility is at fault, too.

Even at a gun range, is it legal for a 9-year old to use an uzi? Most states set the legal lower limit at 12 for competitive rifle and hunting licenses. I know the article says that the range requires the kids to be at least 8 and accompanied by an adult, but policy isn't the same as legality.

The paper reported that the girl had successfully fired the 9mm weapon several times in “single-shot” mode before Vacca changed the setting to “fully automatic” mode.

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Why? Why would anyone hand a nine-year old kid (we're talking someone likely in the under five-feet, and under 100 pound size range) a fully automatic weapon that will make grown men twitch from the kickback?

Now, not only has someone been killed, but a nine-year old child will have to grow up knowing she killed someone. Her classmates will know. her friends will know. Things like that change how people interact with someone.

And who in their right mind takes a kid to a place where the main draw is that it "creates a desert-storm like atmosphere?" Why would you want your 9-year old kid to experience a war zone as a 1st person shooter in real life?

It's ridiculous and stupid. A 9-year-old has no legitimate need to learn to use an Uzi. I'm sorry her parents were idiots to get her involved in this, and I'm sorry they apparently or perhaps obviously chose a complete fuckwit to "instruct" her. I hope CPS looks into this family for the way they exposed their child to devastating trauma. The stupidity of humans knows no bounds.

Just because you shat out a kid, you do not have some right to fuck it all up like this.

Disgusting.

Devil Ledbetter said:

It's ridiculous and stupid. A 9-year-old has no legitimate need to learn to use an Uzi. I'm sorry her parents were idiots to get her involved in this, and I'm sorry they apparently or perhaps obviously chose a complete fuckwit to "instruct" her. I hope CPS looks into this family for the way they exposed their child to devastating trauma. The stupidity of humans knows no bounds.

Just because you shat out a kid, you do not have some right to fuck it all up like this.

Disgusting.

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+1

This.

Times infinity!

firedrake said:

really? You don't have a problem with a 9 year old handling a powerful gun like an Uzi? Why would any responsible parent even consider it acceptable?

I feel sorry for the girl too, but if anyone's to blame it's her parents for even letting her near something like that. They deserve a Darwin award.

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She should be removed from their care IMMEDIATELY.

firedrake said:

r They deserve a Darwin award.

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They can't get the Darwin award because tragically, they've already procreated.

Devil Ledbetter said:

It's ridiculous and stupid. A 9-year-old has no legitimate need to learn to use an Uzi. I'm sorry her parents were idiots to get her involved in this, and I'm sorry they apparently or perhaps obviously chose a complete fuckwit to "instruct" her. I hope CPS looks into this family for the way they exposed their child to devastating trauma. The stupidity of humans knows no bounds.

Just because you shat out a kid, you do not have some right to fuck it all up like this.

Disgusting.

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Yup. I blame the parents, the instructor, and the shooting range.

The Guardian article says no charges will be filed against the gun range, so I guess it was all legal.

I read the sheriff's office press release for that day for Mohave County. There were three incidents reported. Two were accidental shootings.

robjvargas said:

In a controlled environment like a well-managed shooting range, I don't see a problem with letting children experience a perfectly legal activity. There are laws surrounding fully automatic weapons that may come into play here, but otherwise, we allow children to engage in supervised risky activity.

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You appear to be placing the law in very high regard. You must have a lot more confidence in legislators than I do.

First and foremost I blame the parents. They took her there. They allowed her to use the uzi. She is only a child who will be emotionally scarred for life. And who was filming? Or was that the shooting range's camera?

I don't think anyone is questioning the legality of this. I think what is being questioned is why anyone in their right mind would think it's a good idea for it to be legal.

KTC said:

I don't think anyone is questioning the legality of this. I think what is being questioned is why anyone in their right mind would think it's a good idea for it to be legal.

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Well, exactly. Rob said "I don't see a problem with letting children experience a perfectly legal activity". My point was that I do see a problem with it when it's a fucking ridiculous and downright dangerous idea. The legality doesn't make it ok, imho.

JimmyB27 said:

Well, exactly. Rob said "I don't see a problem with letting children experience a perfectly legal activity". My point was that I do see a problem with it when it's a fucking ridiculous and downright dangerous idea. The legality doesn't make it ok, imho.

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exactly. that it is on the books as legal for a child to have an automatic weapon in their hands is downright fuckwadian.

JimmyB27 said:

Well, exactly. Rob said "I don't see a problem with letting children experience a perfectly legal activity". My point was that I do see a problem with it when it's a fucking ridiculous and downright dangerous idea. The legality doesn't make it ok, imho.

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This. Anything, legal or not, that is a serious risk of your 9-year-old blowing someone's head off is a bad, bad, bad idea.

That this isn't simply obvious to everyone (most notably the parents of the child in question, and her instructor) is probably the scariest thing about this story.

Had she not blown his head off, how would she be able to incorporate this new skill into her life today, the day after? How? How the fuck?

In the interest of trying to wrap my head around this, as an outsider Canadian, I have a scenario...

A video exactly the same as the one making its rounds about this tragic story circulates on the internet with a Muslim man teaching a nine-year old Muslim child (or ISIS or WHATEVER) how to work an automatic weapon. Nobody dies.

How irate would people be about the nine-year old waving the automatic weapon? How wrong would it be then?



Might as well go for a soda, nobody drowns and nobody dies...

This is just horrific, and exactly what I was talking about with the GUNS FUCK YEAH! attitude that some people have.

There is no reason on this earth why a 9-year-old girl should be handling an Uzi. None. I don't care what the law does or doesn't say about it, any parent who takes just a moment to think about the best and worst case scenario would know that the law isn't the only thing at play here.

The number of lives ruined by this one decision is tragic. The girl. The instructor. The instructor's family. How many people have to pay the price for one young child to experience something no one of that age has any reason to know just because no one thought to make it illegal?

But hey, GUNS FUCK YEAH! Give a kid too young to be left home alone in many states a fucking automatic weapon to shoot. What's the worst that could happen?

KTC said:

In the interest of trying to wrap my head around this, as an outsider Canadian, I have a scenario...

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Dude, I can't wrap my head around this as someone living in Texas with relatives living in the same town who have to carry live firearms in their truck every day (it's a working ranch).

People around here teach their kids to shoot hunting rifles at a fairly young age out of necessity, but they don't start with live rounds, and they certainly don't get handed fully automatic military-grade weaponry. They get air guns and the rifle their great-grandfather used.

Even the kids who compete in pistol events for the rodeo don't use live ammo. They fire non-ballistic black powder at balloons!

firedrake said:

really? You don't have a problem with a 9 year old handling a powerful gun like an Uzi? Why would any responsible parent even consider it acceptable?

I feel sorry for the girl too, but if anyone's to blame it's her parents for even letting her near something like that. They deserve a Darwin award.

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Actually, I kind of have a problem with anyone handling a powerful gun like an Uzi... (that isn't military or police, or anything remotely like that.)

Why would anyone need to know how to handle a weapon like this?