The story was all over the news. And our email. And was the subject of the usual suspects on social media. It seems somebody put an Uzi in the hands of a 9-year-old girl at a shooting range in Arizona earlier this week. When she aimed at a target and pulled the trigger, the thing recoiled over her head, kept firing rounds, and killed her "instructor."
CNN reported, and we quote: "The incident raises questions about whether a child should handle such a weapon."
Raises questions. That's the understatement of the year and maybe of the whole gun-crazy era. Just in case CNN is still wondering if a child should be handling such a weapon, here's an answer:
Hell no.
A 9-year-old shouldn't be handling any firearm--unless maybe he or she is in a turkey blind with pawpaw during the early Youth Hunt Weekend. And only then with pawpaw helping steady the gun, whispering instructions, and generally playing Range Safety Officer.
Even then the safest gun in that turkey blind would be some sort of one-shot shotgun, or maybe a pump that pawpaw would help manage.
But an Uzi? What's wrong with people? Anybody who's fired an automatic weapon might remember how the danged thing rises up, no matter how strong the shooter. Fit young soldiers with 25-year-old biceps can't hold an automatic rifle on target for long. After about five shots, they're shooting at the sun. Which is one reason the U.S. Army decided to modify the M16 back in the '80s to allow three-round bursts of fire instead of the fully automatic mode.
An Uzi? A 9-year-old girl? What were the adults out there thinking? That's another easy question. The answer: They weren't.
Editorial on 08/29/2014