Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Yikes! 9 y/o Girl Kills Instructor With Uzi!

http://www.wbay.com/story/26375754/officials-girl-accidentally-kills-gun-instructor

This is so wrong on so many levels!
Sad situation indeed.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Sounds pretty much like it was self inflicted by the instructor...

Sorry, but stupid should hurt.

I feel bad for the kid though. That will be tough to live with.

Yup, that pretty much defines stupid. You see enough safety lapses with kids that age on a trap range with an instructor standing right next to a shooter and the instructor handing one shell at a time. The instructor keeps it safe so errant shots hit the back of the trap house at worst. Something unexpected happens and it all goes to hell, even a failure to feed that one shell when the action closes.

Poor girl will feel that sting the rest of her life. Prayers sent for all involved. Very sad deal, and will probably have big repercussions.

Darwin Award and/or Gene pool cleansing.

Nine yo is too young to handle a firearm.

I don't think so.
I bought my oldest daughter her first rifle when she was 6...she killed her first deer when she was 8.

Damn, someone should have let my old man know. I was shooting at 5.

Stupid on many fronts. One being allowing a 9 year old to handle anything but a .22 single-shot.

To young to handle THAT firearm. My boys were both shooting at 7.

Really depends on the individual and circumstance. Even in a very controlled and closely supervised setting, 4-H trap, some kids can't do it safely even with individual instruction. We explain the safety issues to the parents and invite the kid to try again next year. Others do wonderfully and I wouldn't mind hunting with them, closely supervised of course. Most fall somewhere in between.

My daughter passed hunter's safety, including range exercise, at age 9 and 1 month. Hell, I only beat her score by one answer (the only one she got wrong).

Carried a gun in the field, completely safely, since she was ten. Matter of fact, I'd rather have her around me at 9, than my son at 14.....

No absolutes about when kids are mature enough.

Yes. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer. What kind of trip was that parent on? A 1/2 second lapse of attention with kids, and life can go terribly wrong.

I suspect there are many here that were shooting independently at relatively young ages. Started as a teen in my case, and it was only luck that got me or someone around me through with no injuries.

Several of my friends spout off pre-teen experiences, and near every one of them can relate a couple "near hit" adventures.

Some of the ages I hear today, will land a parent in jail if something goes wrong.

A college buddy of mine raised his two kids on a ranch with guns in every corner. At a reunion with about a dozen of us around a couple of us questioned the practice. Trusted them to no end, as their curiosity about arms had long since passsed. One day about a year later, little sis was late coming home from school and found her 12 year old brother dead in the parent's bedroom. Seems he decided to toy with dad's 44. The marriage did not last either.

I tend to error on the conservatice side. Two issues: 1. I love the kids, and 2. I'm not about to give up my net worth in a lawsuit.

I don't know if the question is whether SOME 9 year olds can handle guns.


But more the question of what justifies it?


I didn't get to shoot a gun, outside of a few very limited instances, until I was old enough to get a hunting license. No harm done here.

BB guns are plenty of gun to keep a kid excited.

Fond memories of my dad teaching me how to shoot (safely!) at a range and the first time hunting when I was ten. (Yes, legal. There was absolutely no excuse for me ever violating a law.) Didn't shoot anything, didn't even see anything to shoot at. Still miss the old man very much. BB gun first, and it was treated like a firearm at all times. Stored away from me too when not in use - guns were considered family property with access only when there was a good purpose and as Dad saw fit. A good ploy for safety.

I just have to wonder how many of yall have kids. 9 is plenty old enough to shoot. Not old enough to shoot automatic weapons, but certainly old enough to shoot. Both my kids started with single shot 22s off a bench at 5 years old. They soon progressed from there to other appropriate rifles and handguns.

The parents and the instructor were very wrong to allow this to happen. I feel for the girl having to live with this. The problem however was not 9 year olds shooting guns but adults without the sense to know what is appropriate and what isn't.

shooting a fully automatic handgun is not safe for most children. some maybe, but not most. this happened a few years ago as well with a young man shooting a small full-auto handgun except that he shot himself with it.

that gun range is liable for allowing that in my opinion. WTF were they thinking?

Last line says it all.
Should have been loaded w/ a single round.