'MURICA

[calobes]

www.mamamia.com.au/social/9-year-old-girl-shoots-instructor

Seriously?!

 

[Moad]

"bullets and burgers"... 'MURICA

 

[Phoney]

That 9 year old has every right to bare arms. Whats the problem?

 

[peas_and_corn]

I'm not sure if her choice of short sleeves it the issue here.

 

[booargy]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=376_1409096283
Uzi **** yeah

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

'Merica

****...you really have to wonder.....seriously..

TBH..if a dickhead lick that lets a 9 yr old...

 

[TheWiggman]

Touching on a difficult subject here. Growing up as a shooter I wasn't allowed to handle firearms (can we call them that for the time being and not weapons?) until I was around the age to get my minor's permit, which was 12. I still went hunting and camping with my dad and enjoyed everything the outdoors had to offer before that. That included witnessing a lot of hunting.
Shooting is engrained in the US culture and it's as simple as that. We've been conditioned to thinking it's evil as a matter of course in Australian culture. The politicians by and large hate it (shooters party and similar mobs excepted) and Martin Bryant was effectively the straw on the camel's back as far as Howard was concerned - that was all that was needed to prove that shooting was deadly and should be banished as much as reasonably possible in this country while he was able to pull the strings. He didn't grow up like I did, so I expect he was biased one way just like I am the other.
Military automatic firearms and similar unnecessary rifles were deemed illegal, yet so was my 3 shot semi auto shotgun that I used 3 our of 4 weekends to shoot clays and when season permitted, rabbits and shotguns. Bolt action rifles somehow remained, as though they are somehow safer. Amongst all this I still went shooting with some people who I'd question were suited for shooting or really shouldn't be a part of the sport. Laws aside, you can't stop stupidity.

Long story short I was no criminal then and I'm no criminal now. I love shooting and intend on bringing my kids up on it. Far more [US] Americans intend on doing the same and they did with their parents, and their parents and so on. This is an example of someone who brings their kids up in it at an arguably too-young age, and being conditioned to doing the same thing for the past 20 years clearly got so complacent that the girl lost control and ultimately led to his ultimate demise. This girl will now have to live with this for the rest of her life, which is just as horrific as the family members who just lost their dad, brother and son.

Is America to blame? I don't think so. I won't let my daughter shoot until she's old enough to get her permit, but that doesn't make me superdad. The yanks would call me soft, and meanwhile half of Australia would probably call me barbaric. They are far more relaxed on shooting and in my opinion far too relaxed, but this isn't an example of a nation out of control. This is a terrible event. I'm sure though that daily there would be hundreds of 9 years olds shooting to no ill effect, and this was simply a situation where all there holes in the Swiss cheese lines up and complacency took over.
The last line in that article says it all to me: "But really, this child was being trained to kill." This is an absolute insult and another example of journalism that has caused craploads of ranting on this forum. This kind of crap frustrates me no end. In my opinion an Uzi is completely unnecessary for any type of shooting and nobody should be owning them, but appropriate handling and training (which is what was being attempted) prevents incidents occurring anyway. This was a freak event. Her simply handling an Uzi does not turn here into a trained killer just like I am not a killer from the 10s of thousands of rounds I might have handled in the past. If anything I've been trained not to kill, and have more respect for them than any activist might have.

I'd much rather my kids out in the wilderness breathing fresh air and stinking of campfire smoke having a rabbit stew than sitting in their rooms playing games, hating the country life that so many of our ancestors depended on. I spent my fair share of time playing games sure, but I'm glad I spent those weekend hunting bunnies, living off the land and bonding that I fear our kids are getting less exposure too. But then again, I'm just a product of my upbringing aren't I?

 

[TheWiggman]

tl;dr
Don't hate on the US for this. Firearms laws are too relaxed but are not an excuse for such biased and discriminatory journalism.

 

[calobes]

Honestly I'm not sure where I stand on the Usa gun laws, I don't live there and only see what the media shows me. There is definitely more gun related deaths in the USA than here, whether or not thats to do with gun laws, I'm going to stay out of. Happy with the laws in Australia.

The thing I found astounding is that a 9 year old girl was allowed to handle and fire an UZI. A ******* UZI. That, to me, screams stupidity and gun laws that are far to relaxed.

If it were not an automatic firearm that wouldn't have happened.

All it took was a squeeze of the trigger, by a child that obviously could not handle the weapon.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Cant blame a culture that freely alllows fire arms to the general population........and then defends the .....


Oh why ******* bother

 

[calobes]

But I do agree the whole "trained to kill" thing was a load of shit.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Anyhow...the American Gun Lobby are a bit like the current Liberal Government

Just keep shooting themselves....in the foot

 

[Crofty]

Not sure how I feel on this one.

Kids+Uzis=probably not a good idea

Even still though, the Instructor maybe should have been more cautious and taken additional safety precautions.

I'm all for teaching your kids to shoot if you're into that sort of thing, it takes the mystery out of it. If you're going to have guns around you need to teach the appropriate level of respect for them.

Uzi at a gun range under the supervision of an "expert"... I suppose you'd expect the range would have rules on what firearms to age (or even size) given they should understand the weapons.

Still not sure, just throwing out random thoughts on the matter.

 

[spog]

Just saw this on a link to Military.com,that site shows Taliban executions.mean pricks the lot of them,they even executed a bloke by shooting him with an 82mm recoiless rifle !

 

[jyo]

This poor kid will have this on her conscience for the rest of her days. That's sad.

I grew up shooting and eating all sorts of things, and we were taught how to use guns safely, but would you let your little kid fire an automatic weapon?

I just typed a huge post about all sorts of things, but it's no ******* use.


Carry on as you were.

 

[MastersBrewery]

As sad as this is, these sorts of things aren't just about guns, or America, we every day here in Australia have parents buy their teens or allow their teens to drive 300BHP plus cars. I don't mean to be condescending but the complete comprehension of consequences, isn't fully formed until mid 20's. As parents and carers it is our responsibility to ensure their safety and others affected by such decisions.

MB

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Thankfully our police dont go around shooting crimals as a matter of course..then defend it by saying .........." he looked dangerous"

Thankfully the Victorain Police stopped this practice a few years ago..

The QLD police are a still pissed that the Yellow Pages is not as thick as it was years ago...

 

[Yob]

Soon.. The parents thought it to be a good idea?

What in fact, is the ****?

 

[Eagleburger]

Self correcting system. I would rather have liberty and protection of property instead of idiots.

 

[Yob]

the two are not mutually exclusive