Lots of kids start shooting at the age of 5 to 6,but it's pretty moronic to put an automatic weapon in the hands of a child so young. Where was the possible motivation for this? I find it hard to believe the kid said, "Daddy, I really want to shoot a .50 BMG, but maybe I should start with a smaller machine gun....."
Anyone who would allow a kid this age to do this is just plain WRONG.
Any range that would allow a child this young to shoot an automatic weapon is wrong also.
funny how someone mentioned stereo types. with the gun market growing and in particular the tactical gun market. it seems to be attracting quite a few military wanna be types. maybe its the video games I don't know. go over to snipers hide or ar 15.com lets just say I don't fit in over there. most guys over there are know it alls and can't be taught anything.
I wouldn't have let a 9yr old girl shoot that gun, but if I was going to have I would have been standing behind her with my hands also on the gun.
I just read this story. It was an extremely sad event. The kid is probably most blameless. Her parents are probably blameless as well. I'm sure that they were told that the course was 100% safe. Were I to assign blame, it would be with the deceased.
A month or so ago, I took a friend who had never fired a gun, her 18 year-old son who had fired a gun, and her 13 year old daughter who had never fired a gun to a local indoor range. They were shooting a Browning 1911 .22. The 18 year-old had it wired. I stood beside him for a few shots and realized he had it wired. The 13 year-old was naturally precocious. She took to it pretty darn quickly. He brother helped her out. After a couple mags I was confident that she had it wired, so I sat on a seat right behind them & kept my eye on 'em.
The mom was an effing nightmare. Sometimes I think she has a screw that needs a lot more of righty tighty. Anyway, I loaded the gun and handed it to her with it pointing down range. I stood within inches of her left side. At the report, she shuddered in some emotion and began turning toward me with the muzzle of the gun moving left. I immediately grabbed the gun while it was still in her hand and forced the muzzle back downrange. She had perplexed look on her face. She asked why I was mad. I told her that I wasn't mad. I told her that I had merely reacted in order to prevent a catastrophe. Had she killed me or, God forbid, another shooter, then I'd of been mad. The point being that I was responsible for her handling that gun.
The deceased instructor, while I feel bad that he has lost his life, was 100% responsible for that kid firing that weapon. He's dead and she might wind up brain dead. Everybody lost.
�If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.� ***US President James Madison***
My Dad learned to shoot on a single shot, I learned to shoot on a single shot, my kids learned to shoot on a single shot. Always made sense to me.
Some folks think it's mighty cute to have their little kids blazing away on weaponry way beyond their abilities. Things like this happen to such folks.
You really do have to feel for the kid. Parents need to know their kids' limitations.
Yeah, I heard about this on the radio yesterday. Tragic. It immediately occurred to me that the left would figure a way "not to waste" this tragedy, though, to paraphrase Rahm Emanuel.
That was either a Mini Uzi or a Micro Uzi, because it has the side folding wire shoulder stock. The Mini Uzi has a cyclic rate of around 900rpm, and the Micro Uzi has a cyclic rate of over 1200rpm. BOTH are a handful for an experienced shooter. What the hell were they thinking?
My daughter was handling my LW .45 Commander by that age, and handling it well. And I STILL wouldn't put a mini or micro Uzi in her hands, even if I was standing right next to her.
The thing people forget...It's not the recoil that's the problem, it's the shooters RESPONSE to the recoil. And 900-1200rpm can be a scary thing for an adult let alone a little girl.
Dumbazz Don couldn't get a T/F test right with only one answer offered.
I was shooting at 6, as were my cousins and more recently our kids. SUPERVISED, and with age and size appropriate weapons.
Originally Posted by Mannlicher
America needs to understand that our troops are not 'disposable'. Each represents a family; Fathers, Mothers, Sons, Daughters, Cousins, Uncles, Aunts... Our Citizens are our most valuable treasure; we waste far too many.
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.
I disagree, and respectfully I hope by this post.
by the time I was old enough to have a hunting license at 16 I'd been prowling the woods and taking game by myself for about 4 years.
I started shooting at a very young age, 5-6 with a single shot .22, most often with it resting on my dad's shoulder to knock a squirrel out of a tree. and yes we ate those squirrels they're delicious.
for my own kids, it varied at what age they began shooting, my oldest a girl was 10 before she was interested enough to learn the first 4 rules of gun safety, recite them and tell me why each was important.
her lil brother, was able to do so by six.
he's dang near 21 now and I'm sure he's sick to death of me repeating myself by now. Whenever we pick up a firearm, I almost always tell him, "son that's an unforgiving sob you just picked up, do well to remember so"
I'm pretty certain when we sing our anthem and mention the land of the free, the original intent didn't mean cell phones, food stamps and birth control.
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