Most all of us have heard the tragic news about the horrible accident involving a 9-year-old girl on a shooting range in Las Vegas. Horribly, through a series of questionable decisions, this little girl was allowed to operate a fully automatic subcompact machine gun and operated it in such a manner that she killed her instructor. The video that has seen wide attention on all the national media outlets shows her first firing a single round from the Uzi and the instructor switching it to fully automatic operation. When the little girl pulls the trigger, the recoil suddenly and dramatically shifts the muzzle back and upwards where it kills the instructor standing to her left.
This was truly an avoidable accident. Unfortunately, both sides of the gun ownership equation will attempt to make hay with this tragedy. However, I think any such debate illustrates a loss of focus.
This was truly an avoidable accident. Unfortunately, both sides of the gun ownership equation will attempt to make hay with this tragedy. However, I think any such debate illustrates a loss of focus.
Clearly common sense would say handing a subcompact machine gun to a 9-year-old little girl who apparently has no experience operating one is a huge mistake regardless of the level of supervision. Am I against young children learning about and using firearms? I am not. Most any of us who grew up hunting or around hunters received our first gun somewhere between the time we were 8 and 14 years old. However, that gun was not a subcompact machine gun, it was not even a pump or semiautomatic shotgun or rifle. Typically it was a single shot high-gauge shotgun (.410 or 28) or a single shot bolt action 22. My personal first weapon was a simple Marlin single shot rifle my dad traded for two used tires. He gave it to me along with a box of 22 shorts and a lot of instruction. It was several months of watching me closely using the rifle (not only the practical use of the rifle, but how I employed it and what I chose to shoot) before my father allowed me to shoot, with his hand on the grip, his 6 shot 22 pistol loaded with long rifles. I gradually moved up to a shotgun and by the time I was 15 and proficient with most any basic hunting weapon, I had my own pump 12 gauge and a Ruger 10/22 semiautomatic rifle. It was not until long after I joined the Navy that I shot my first fully automatic weapon.
Am I against automatic weapons? Again, I am not. In the hands of a properly trained law enforcement officer or in the hands of military personnel, they are an effective and valuable weapon in any fight. For the civilian, an adult who is properly trained and supervised in the operation of an automatic weapon, they are just simply, at a minimum, fun to shoot. However, I would never combine an automatic weapon with any 9-year-old child.
I cannot say for certain how this Uzi ended up into the hands of this young girl. What I can say is that one family has suffered a tragic loss and another family now has a young girl who is scarred for life over this incident and for what reason. If this should teach any lesson, the lesson should be that guns, like any other tool, cars or anything else that we see as a device that requires responsibility to operate, should never be put into the hands of young children. Moreover, automatic weapons should never be put in the hands of young children under any circumstances. If you have ever shot one, controlling an automatic weapon is a lesson unto itself. It is simply beyond the capabilities of such young children (and for those of you out there that say some statement like, “my kid has shot an automatic weapon,” I can only say I understand and am glad that something bad like this did not happen). Whatever your leanings on this story, please do not use this tragedy as a bully pulpit to advocate your position. This is simply a horror brought on by poor decision making and nothing else. If anything, it should simply remind us all of our responsibility to treat our guns with respect and never lose focus on safety, the need for proper instruction and the mandate that common sense rule over all.
Am I against automatic weapons? Again, I am not. In the hands of a properly trained law enforcement officer or in the hands of military personnel, they are an effective and valuable weapon in any fight. For the civilian, an adult who is properly trained and supervised in the operation of an automatic weapon, they are just simply, at a minimum, fun to shoot. However, I would never combine an automatic weapon with any 9-year-old child.
I cannot say for certain how this Uzi ended up into the hands of this young girl. What I can say is that one family has suffered a tragic loss and another family now has a young girl who is scarred for life over this incident and for what reason. If this should teach any lesson, the lesson should be that guns, like any other tool, cars or anything else that we see as a device that requires responsibility to operate, should never be put into the hands of young children. Moreover, automatic weapons should never be put in the hands of young children under any circumstances. If you have ever shot one, controlling an automatic weapon is a lesson unto itself. It is simply beyond the capabilities of such young children (and for those of you out there that say some statement like, “my kid has shot an automatic weapon,” I can only say I understand and am glad that something bad like this did not happen). Whatever your leanings on this story, please do not use this tragedy as a bully pulpit to advocate your position. This is simply a horror brought on by poor decision making and nothing else. If anything, it should simply remind us all of our responsibility to treat our guns with respect and never lose focus on safety, the need for proper instruction and the mandate that common sense rule over all.