This gun owner says “no” to automatic weapons for children

[SecularMotion]

Tragic news hit this week over the death of a shooting instructor. A 9-year old girl at a shooting range was allowed to handle a fully automatic Uzi machine gun. Unable to control it, she ended up shooting her instructor to death.

I am a gun owner and a supporter of the second amendment. I am not convinced fully that the right to bear arms is limited to militias. Having an armed citizenry is a good start in protecting ourselves from whomever might unwisely take it upon themselves to mess with us.

I come from a family of gun owners. There are plenty of hunters and target shooters in my extended family. I’m pretty sure the county where part of my family resides would put ISIS on the run given the opportunity.

Several years ago I had two opportunities to shoot automatic weapons, one an Uzi. I believe the rate of fire was about 30 rounds per second. Firing it was like wrestling the business end of a rhinoceros.

http://www.martyduren.com/2014/08/29/this-gun-owner-says-no-to-automatic-weapons-for-children/

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Excellent article.

[gejohnston]

2. honest question,

has anyone said it was a good idea? I mean, all of the gun blogs I read say it was really fucking stupid.

[Duckhunter935]

4. I have not seen one

person that said this was safe and a smart thing to do.

[friendly_iconoclast]

5. "I mean, all of the gun blogs I read say it was really fucking stupid."

Because it was really fucking stupid, and an excellent example of why one
should never let familiarity with potentially deadly things devolve into laxity.

I feel badly for the child involved, and the instructors' family- but we all need to
remember that Judge Darwin's verdicts are always harsh and there is no appeal...

[gejohnston]

7. I agree it was fucking stupid

just that the OP seems, to me, to imply that the "gun nut" in the article is some kind of exception, leaving me very astounded. Or to put it a better way, seems to think it is some kind of man bites dog story, when it is really a dog naps under a tree kind of story.

[Eleanors38]

10. Stupid. Not heard Anyone say otherwise, either.

[Duckhunter935]

3. Nice read

Do you have any comments on it?

[Sopkoviak]

6. I've not seen anyone trying to justify this

There just are certain things you just don't let kids do, a 9 YO girl and an Uzi on full auto would be in that category.


Even adults with diminished capabilities need to be watched. I clenched a bit when I 1st saw this vid...

Fortunately Mark jumped in quickly and put an end to that danger but holey crap that could have been tragic.

[Eleanors38]

11. Is Gifford a lefty, or is she learning to shoot that way?

[NYC_SKP]

8. I never, until now, knew that you were a gun owner.

I'm curious, it seems odd.

But, whatever, I hope that you have training and keep your weapons and ammunition securely stored.

You do have a safe or other devices, right?

[Duckhunter935]

9. Good catch

That is a surprise to me also. I would ask what type of gun but I am sure I will not get a reply.

[gejohnston]

12. this article covers it even better

http://ethicsalarms.com/2014/08/31/the-nine-year-old-and-the-uzi-a-case-study-in-news-media-public-opinion-manipulation/

[NYC_SKP]

13. I like that site, will have to remember it. nt

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

14. excellent link

thanks

[friendly_iconoclast]

15. The last part really slams it home, and I've bolded the best bit

There is no such debate, or if there is, it is so one-sided as to be pointless. How many people think Uzi’s should be placed in the hands of tiny children? The motive for staging this faux debate is to be able to hammer home the message that this tragedy was all the gun’s fault, and thus our fault for not banning the damn things. That’s the message, obvious or subliminal, from the media’s flogging this sad tale for a full week. I’m sure it works on a lot of people, just as the schools punishing a deaf child whose name in “Gunner” by banning the deaf sign language necessary for him to say his name works by attaching child abuse to anything relating to guns. Helping it work is the reliably deranged National Rifle Association, which picked two days after the shooting to tweet this..

"7 Ways Children Can Have Fun At The Shooting Range"

That does not change the fact that this is a textbook example of how the news media exceeds its authority, breaches its duty of objectivity and manipulates news stories to achieve its own political and social ends. When an Aeroflot pilot, in 1994, placed his 12-year-old son in the pilot seat, causing the passenger plane to crash, the subsequent coverage focused on the fatal idiocy of the pilot, who was simultaneously a reckless pilot and a terrible parent, not the danger of airplanes. Similarly, as scary as an Uzi is to some of us, this accident was not the Uzi’s fault, any more than the plane itself was responsible for the Russian air disaster. Nor were there widespread debates, here or there, about the safety of air flight and whether 12-year-old should fly passenger jets.

The father in the shooting gallery incident was negligent, and the instructor was criminally negligent, resulting in a trauma that will haunt the young shooter for the rest of her life. A gun happened to be the instrumentality of death in this case, but it just as easily could have been anything that is dangerous in the hands of the young—a car, a speed boat, a straight-edge razor, a chain saw, a trained white tiger, a bottle of scotch, a syringe full of morphine. The difference is that in those stories, the focus would be on the reckless adults who caused the tragedy, which is exactly where it would belongs

Ah, but in the eyes of our news media, these things aren’t inherently bad. Not like guns.

[Duckhunter935]

16. Yes, I saw that

The news media goes into hyper mode and a feeding frenzy. See CNN and MH 370.