Video of 9yr old shooting uzi moments before accident.

[JaneyVee]

Video cuts off right before accident. Not graphic.

[pipoman]

1. Ok, sad someone died...

But jeezuz why wouldn't you put three in a few mags before giving her 22. A single shot didn't give her a feel for the gun. Newbie tourist kids and uzis....what could go wrong. ...oh and what was the big rush?

[avebury]

2. The owner of the gun range was on one of the MSNBC

shows tonight and indicated that it was the dream of the girl to fire the uzi and her parents allowed her to do it. First of all, what normal child would have firing an uzi on a bucket list of activities at that young an age? And second, these are the type of shit that can happen when parents fail to parent and let their kids do whatever they want. Parents are supposed to have the wisdom and benefit of age that young children do not.

Edit to Add: What was unbelievable was the owner talking about having children's birthday parties at the gun range.

[pipoman]

5. there are safe and fun shooting exercises for kids

Probably statisticly no more dangerous than go-cart racing, horseback riding, or dirt bikes....putting a child on a machine gun with no shoulder stock is looney. I mean if a child must shoot an uzi, it should be 3 rounds then maybe 4 or 5....going from firing a single round to a full mag is a recipe for disaster sooner or later. .imho...

[avebury]

8. And some kids should not be allowed access to real guns.

I think of a good friend of mine who has 2 sons. Putting guns in their hands would be a total disaster because they would be just as likely to shoot themselves or others because they can get out of control. And if you consider who might attend a birthday party at a gun range, some kids might be able to handle it and some not. Personally, I would not allow any kid of mine to attend because there are just too many things that can go wrong. Better to err on the side of caution then to cave in and let your child be like everyone else.

[pipoman]

18. ...

Consider the parents of an eight-year-old girl named, say, Molly. Her two best friends, Amy and Imani, each live nearby. Molly’s parents know that Amy’s parents keep a gun in their house, so they have forbidden Molly to play there. Instead, Molly spends a lot of time at Imani’s house, which has a swimming pool in the backyard. Molly’s parents feel good about having made such a smart choice to protect their daughter.

But according to the data, their choice isn’t smart at all. In a given year, there is one drowning of a child for every 11,000 residential pools in the United States. (In a country with 6 million pools, this means that roughly 550 children under the age of ten drown each year.) Meanwhile, there is 1 child killed by a gun for every 1 million-plus guns. (In a country with an estimated 200 million guns, this means that roughly 175 children under ten die each year from guns.) The likelihood of death by pool (1 in 11,000) versus death by gun (1 in 1 million-plus) isn’t even close: Molly is roughly 100 times more likely to die in a swimming accident at Imani’s house than in gunplay at Amy’s.

http://freakonomics.com/books/freakonomics/chapter-excerpts/chapter-5/

That said, it depends on the culture of the area. I grew up in rural plains state. Most everyone came from a hunting family. School was out opening Friday of deer season every year. Starting freshman year physical education included a hunter safety certification class for anyone who hadn't already taken one. After that class we had a unit on trap and skeet shooting. We were encouraged to bring our own shotgun to school, for those who didn't have one the school had some to use. There was also .22 caliber target shooting, and archery. Every parent could opt their kid out, nearly nobody did. I remember taking my shotgun to school on the bus. There was never an accident I heard about...this was common throughout the state. Properly instructed and supervised shooting sports are no more dangerous than many, many other activities kids participate in...in fact probably far less dangerous than some...

[avebury]

21. The issue of a comparison between a gun and a pool

is that a child can be taught to swim. A child may or may have not been taught properly about guns. A child may or may not have impulse control. A gun in the wrong hands may become a lethal weapon. If your child is a a gun range birthday party or at a friends house and and unschooled child with poor impulse control has access to a loaded gun, the consequences cannot be undone. Some children (just like some adults) can be unbelievably hard headed and have no concept of actions and consequences. You may think that you can educate them about guns but it will not work. It is just common sense that not all people are equipped with the maturity, emotional control, physical control, etc. to safely allow access to guns.

"Properly instructed and supervised shooting sports are no more dangerous than many, many other activities kids participate in...in fact probably far less dangerous than some"

I would make a bet that the young girl's parents might not agree with your statement. Unfortunately for the "instructor's" family, not everyone is equipped to be a gun instructor. Somewhere, someone posted on line stuff from the dead guy's Facebook and, if what was posted is an accurate indication of his personality & beliefs, the guy fell in the category of extreme gun nuts. If correct, I have no sympathy for the dead guy. When someone takes an extremist view they should be surprised by the results.

[pipoman]

40. The fact remains

Millions of kids participate in shooting sports of one kind or another. Most are spending time with their parents, grandparents, and/or others who enjoy the sport. Statistically shooting sports are no more dangerous than many other sports or recreational activities kids participate in. The belief that some kids can't be taught is simply not shared by anyone I have ever met, nor have I witnessed it. Surely I know there are many variables in the human condition, an automobile is a dangerous piece of equipment. Have you ever met anyone who couldn't get a drivers license? Well gun sports and safety are no harder to learn than driving.

Oh, what do you know about the young girls parents? Again there are accidents associated with many recreational activities, are you denying that? Are you saying there is more risk for kids in shooting sports than in dirt bike racing, bike riding, swimming, football, skiing, snowmobile riding, equestrian sports, etc.?

[DanTex]

24. Umm, no.

Dividing the total number of child deaths by the total number of guns/swimming pools is a horrible way to compare how dangerous either one is. Especially if we're talking about the risks of having a gun party versus a pool party (for starters, there are a lot more pool parties per pool than there are gun parties per gun). In fact, it's hard to believe that even Steve Levitt would actually call this number the "likelihood of death" -- above all this illustrates the dangers of playing with data.

It may be the case that a pool party is just as or more dangerous than a gun party (obviously, it would depend on things like supervision, etc.), but just dividing numbers by each other like this is not very useful.

[pipoman]

26. you can pretend it ain't so

But kids are statistically more likely to die in a swimming pool than in a gun accident and there are far less homes with swimming pools than with guns.

Guns are most commonly used recreationally and many kids participate in shooting sports.

[DanTex]

28. Ah, the joys of statistical illiteracy...

Combined with the folksy use of "ain't"... take that, scientific method!

[pipoman]

30. oh the wailing an knashing and reluctance. ..

[Jeneral2885]

39. consider any of the kids were bullying the other(s)

natural reaction is to try to defend him/herself right? In typical children/teen bullying, it can result in physical attacks. What if the victim brings out the Uzi? Or the person bullying?

[pipoman]

41. An uzi? where is the kid going to get an uzi?

With the millions of kids involved in shooting sports from hunting to Olympic contenders you should be able to find a pile of stories of bullies gunned down with uzis? No, uzis aren't too common and are all registered with the federal government subject to periodic inspections.

[LeftyMom]

12. At that age I wanted a pet shark. The aquarium had one. Did I get it? Fuck no!

Because even if my Dad hadn't told me no the people who ran the aquarium wouldn't have been irresponsible enough to sell us one.

[NBachers]

13. Yeah! And I never got that chimpanzee I wanted, either!

[LeftyMom]

14. My point is that kids are not good at seeing past their whims. Adults need to do it for them,

say no when needed, and explain their reasoning. Even the brightest, most thoughtful kids are terrible at seeing the potential consequences of decisions- it's just something their brains aren't really set up to do until later.

[NBachers]

16. Yes, and I was punctuating your point. What a nightmare it would've been to have a chimpanzee

or a monkey or a pet shark, or any of the many inappropriate things we wanted while not-yet-grown.

Sorry if it came off as wise-assing. I think a lot of kids probably wanted a simian buddy at some point in their young lives; we now realize that it wouldn't have been the way our young brains imagined it. I was trying to touch that concept as a humorous way of agreeing with you.

[Hippo_Tron]

23. At age 9 I knew all about Uzis from video games and action movies...

But that said, my parents also made sure to expose me to plenty of stories about accidental gun deaths. I never had any burning desire to try and shoot a real one.

[aikoaiko]

3. A child shouldn't be doing that, but he should have had his gloved hand on barrel.

For her safety as well as his.

Range instructors should have learned from the Massachusetts disaster where a child died from a poorly handled UZI.

[pipoman]

6. yep...unbelievable. ..complacency

[Travis_0004]

32. I think she should not have been firing the gun at all

First off Im very pro gun. Ive fired full auto and tought many people to shoot.

The uzi is a very small gun and has too much recoil. Did the girl ever fire a gun before in her life? I dont know but firing one bullet then switching to full auto is not sufficent training. I would be nervous about a novice adult ahootibg a mini uzi, let alone a 9 year old who lacks the strength to control it.

I feel bad for the girl. This is something that will haunt her for the rest of her life. Im not againts young kids shooting guns, but I think a bolt action .22 would have been a better choice.

[Number23]

4. She'll live with that for the rest of her life. That poor girl

Watching that, you can see exactly why it happens. She clearly loses control of the gun at the end and it starts to veer to the left.

She'll pay for the mindless stupidity of the "adults" around her forever.

[kcr]

10. That was my first thought

I hope she blocks the memory of the incident itself. She'll still have to live with knowing what happened

[JI7]

15. the problem is she is at that age where she is too old to be easily

influenced by other things and to move on to something else instead of returning to that and feelings of guilt.

but she is too young to really get how stupid adults can be and this being a HUGE example of it. and that she is the only victim in this case.

[cbdo2007]

25. Maybe she'll turn into a very public gun control advocate.

[oldandhappy]

7. even with single shot she lets gun swing to the left

Where or where were the parents? Have heard nothing. No good sense by anyone here.

[kcr]

11. I think I read that her mother was filming it on her phone n/t

[Travis_0004]

33. I dont blame the parents

I blame the gun range. The parents were probably assured it would be safe by a person who was presumed to be knowledgeable. The mini UZI is a small gun, and among novice shooters a small gun is presumed to have little recoil when the exact opposite is true. The smallest guns often have the most recoil. The parents had possibly never fired the gun. The instructor should have fired the UZI in the past and should have known that it was unsafe and not allowed her to fire that gun.

[Jeneral2885]

34. Enjoying themselves

by filming it.

[roamer65]

9. NO ONE that age should be near a gun like an Uzi.

I don't care about "dreams" or whatever. Time to bring back the assault weapon ban.

[aikoaiko]

17. The assault weapon ban wouldn't have prevented this from happening

The UZI that the girl was shooting was a registered class 3 weapon because it is auto fire and short barelled that was being rented out or shared for free.

AWB only covered some semi-auto pistols, rifles, and shotguns. It's likely that this accident would not have happened if the firearm was semi-auto where you have to pull the trigger each time to discharge the firearm.

[pipoman]

20. or even 3 round select fire. ..I really don't know why anyone training

A newbie of any age wouldn't do 3 round mags and work up from there.

[Reter]

29. True

The '94-'04 ban only banned future manufacture. Old stock was still legal. And that was only for semi-autos. Fully autos have been banned since 1934. I believe gun ranges are exempt.

[99Forever]

19. Yay for mo' gunz mo' gunz mo' gunz.

A 9 year and an automatic weapon. Who could have foreseen anything bad happening?

[avebury]

22. The entire video clip should be released.

Why hide the naked truth about how horrible this incident was? Whenever any horrific incidents of gun violence occurs and it is caught on video the entire video should be aired. Why hide the truth?

There is no secret that gun violence is epidemic in this country. You have mass shootings. You have irresponsible gun owners who leave loaded weapons around that fall into the hands of young children with dire consequences. What happens? Nothing. Nothing changes. People will say things like: Oh what a tragedy. Oh what a horrible accident. Oh what an idiot _________ was. And nothing changes.

Maybe if people saw the actual blood and gore of these incidents, things might change. If the public is willing to accept the non-ending gun violence in this country then they should be forced to witness what they are in fact accepting. The time has come to stop coddling the masses because their sensibilities might be harmed by such video clips. This is our reality and we need to face it head on, this is a country that has come to accept blood thirsty violence.

[ksoze]

31. The victims family may disagree

The point is made with the edited video shown and graphic descriptions. I am afraid repeated gore can also lead to complacency for violence - the best horror films never actually showed the gore - your mind did that for you.

[napkinz]

35. ...

[TeeYiYi]

36. That child will never be the same...

She'll struggle to live with what happened for the rest of her life.

TYY

[marions ghost]

37. Children should not fire Uzis by law

--or any similar gun.

But we are not a country of reasonable laws.

[librechik]

38. Then she drove herself home and poured herself a stiff drink. NOT!

why are guns treated so differently from other dangerous things that juveniles should be prohibited from using?