“Hear ye! Hear ye! All persons having business before this Court are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the Court is now sitting. Today we will be hear the case United States v 9-Year-Old Girl. The Honorable LEO is presiding.”
Thursday, Aug. 28, a 9-year-old girl shot and killed her instructor at Bullets and Burgers gun range outside of Las Vegas. The girl, who was on vacation with her family, was given an Uzi, an automatic submachine gun, to shoot at a target. Video footage from a cellphone camera shows that the instructor stood behind the 9-year-old, giving her instructions on how to stand, aim and shoot the weapon.
As the little girl pulled the trigger, the weapon jerked out of her hands and fired directly into the head of the instructor, killing him instantly. Now who is to blame?
9-Year-Old: Yes, she was the one who pulled the trigger. Her fingerprints are on the weapon. But what led to this inadvertent, deadly incident? Her parents made the decision to vacation in Las Vegas, seek out a gun range and, as best we can tell, had the weapon placed in her hands. She was merely a pawn.
It is the judgment of this editor that the 9-year-old is as much the victim as the man she shot. Her life will forever be haunted by the negligent, ill-conceived judgment of many others. She was as much at the mercy of others as passengers on an airplane.
The Parents: The masterminds of this incident were the parents. They orchestrated the trip west, arranged transportation to the gun range, and introduced the shooter to her eventual target. It is unclear who selected the weapon to put in the hands of the child.
It is the judgment of this editor that the parents are guilty of several offenses. First and foremost, lack of common sense. We were all 9-years-old at one time in our lives, so we are all in a position to judge the capabilities of someone that age. I challenge anyone to demonstrate the value in having a child attempt to shoot a submachine gun. Even according to the gun-range’s website, “The Uzi has found use as a personal defense weapon by rear-echelon troops, officers, artillery troops and tankers, as well as a frontline weapon by elite light infantry assault forces.” This is clearly a weapon of war, not something one finds at Toys-R-Us. Furthermore, images of the Uzi show a shoulder brace for the trigger arm. We all know how flimsy a child’s arm is, and the idea of an adult needing a shoulder brace should be an enormous red-flag that this is NOT for children.
The parents are found to be guilty of child neglect and failure to demonstrate any common sense, and they are absolutely culpable in the death of the shooting instructor. Just because you can have kids, doesn’t mean you can be parents.
Burgers and Bullets: What a bunch of arrogant, reckless assholes these guys are. They provided a submachine gun, with a clip containing at least 2-dozen rounds, to a child. Further investigation also demonstrates even more egregious liability; the name of their shooting range is “Burgers and Bullets.” Even worse, they market packages for Bachelor/Bachelorette and birthday parties, and an “Extreme Sniper Adventure.”
It is the judgment of this editor that these people are guilty of being completely insane. Citing some precedent, it has been more than 15 years since Joe Camel was removed as an ad campaign — primarily because of its direct appeal to children — names like “Burgers and Bullets” and “Extreme Sniper Adventure” have no place in an “advanced” civilization and should be banned immediately. Finally, and most pertinent to this case: DON’T LET CHILDREN SHOOT UZI’S! GUILTY. GUILTY. GUILTY.
Finally, a special note to gun “experts”: Collectively, you spread the disease of delusion when you defend the weapons that lead to over 11,000 gun deaths per year in America, over 30/day.
Greg Danas, president of a firearms, forensic science company, said, “That child should not have been shooting anything other than a single-shot firearm.”
Danas — according to CNN.com — whose daughters are 11 and 13, said his girls learned to shoot when they were 4 years old, with a single-shot, .22-caliber pistol.
A 4-year-old should not be shooting. Period. Mr. Danas is perpetrating the crime of delusion under the guise of being an “expert.” You cannot be blinded by your personal favoritisms to the realities of the world and still be deemed a credible authority. This paradigm has to change before the insanity will stop. Until we collectively rebuke their vision of the world, we cannot advance as a culture, and we are all at risk every day.
The irony of this case is that the person who pulled the trigger is the only person not responsible in the death of the victim.
