Toys or Real and does it matter?
With all the controls we put in place to protect our kids and manage their behavior while young, why are we allowing them to use deadly firearms?
A 9 year old girl lost control of a powerful Uzi sub-machine gun while being taught how to use it in the Arizona Last Stop shooting range and accidentally killed her instructor. He is dead and she is scarred for life.
The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office indicated that with the girls parents nearby capturing the experience on video, Charles Vacca, the instructor, told the girl “All right, go ahead and give me one shot,” and after praising her for her shooting, added “All right, full auto.” She fired and the ensuing recoil lost her control of the gun and landed a bullet in the instructor that killed him.
Sam Scarmardo, the gun range operator, was understandably distraught over Charles Vacca’s death and likened this tragedy to “Losing a brother.” He explained that gun ranges allow kids as young as 8 years old, with parental supervision, to fire sub-machine guns like an Uzi and “We instruct kids as young as 5 on .22 rifles, and they don’t get to handle high firearms, but they’re under the supervision of their parents and our professional range masters.”
This is not the first or only example of kids killing with guns. In 2011 Christopher Biziij, age 8, was allowed to fire an Uzi and accidentally killed himself, in spite of his father being warned that he should chose a less powerful weapon for his young son.
Why are kids as young as 5, 8 ,9 allowed to handle and fire weapons of any kind, but especially “high firearms” (sub-machine guns)? We protect and regulate our kids in many ways. They can’t smoke, take drugs, drive cars or see R rated movies. They are not deemed capable of consent to criminal acts or sex. They can’t vote, can’t marry, can’t enter into any legally binding contracts, can’t live on their own and can’t be liable for their actions. But we allow them to use deadly firearms while “supervised by their parents?” Following that logic, why can’t parents allow them to do all the other activities and behaviors listed above, currently illegal for kids?
Important to be clear and specific that this has NOTHING to do with freedom, 2nd amendment or any constitutional rights, except the right to “the pursuit of happiness,” which one cannot do if one is dead (below are links to two gun control articles that explore those specific constitutional issues as well as an article exploring guns and safety).
Guns are killing tools and must be treated with respect. Kids must not be allowed to handle them since they cannot. We as a society have a responsibility to the safety of our kids and society as a whole, which is why we have rules, laws and controls over certain areas and limits on what kids can do. From numerous examples (including this one) we cannot, obviously, let parents make this particular decision. Is there any rational reason we are allowing kids to handle and fire lethal weapons?
Photo: Christo Doherty /Flicker Photo2:The Lions Ground Entertai…/Flicker
More on gun control and the constitution
A Day w/o Gun Sanity = A Day with Senseless Death & Heartbreak
More on guns and safety
Tsach,
You’re right. We can’t let these ignorant parents make this absurd decisions for their children. This poor child is scared for life. This is unequivocal and can’t be debated in my eyes. She may have a successful life, but her pain will be with her until the day she dies; just heartbreaking.
Excellent article. I detect absolutely no ignorance or bias in it.
^^ This guy wins the internet haha. Nice post Nathan.