A shooting instructor was teaching a 9-year-old girl to shoot an automatic weapon. She accidentally shot and killed him. I just heard on the radio that the instructor’s family wrote a letter to the girl saying they don’t blame her for anything.
I mean, yeah, ’cause THEY totally would have a reason to blame HER. Their relative put a dangerous weapon into a small child’s hands, and now she will have to live the rest of her life knowing that she killed a person. But they are totally not blaming her. Freaks.
Clarissa's Blog 
This story incensed me. How and why is it legal for 9 years old to shoot assault weapons? How is it legal for a 9 year old to shoot any weapon? And now, as you say, the poor girl will have to deal with this the rest of her life. Her parents should be jailed.
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I agree completely. This is child abuse. Talking about childhood trauma, this is pretty major.
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Badtux wrote about it too:
“This was some kind of roadside theme park setting, not a “real” gun range, and was all about pushing people through as fast as possible to make as much money as possible. Yeah, that worked out well for this “instructor”, eh?”
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Putting an automatic in the hands of a child that age under any circumstances seems batshit insane and everybody involved should be thrown in jail for child abuse and reckless endangerment and a whole bunch of other stuff. What planet are these freaks from?
disclosure: I grew up with guns all around and was trained in basic gun safety and usage, including shooting, before I was 10 (and as an adult I’m about as uninterested in guns as they come).
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Agreed! Now come over to the post on Ukraine and support me there because I’m starting to feel like la voz clamante en el desierto.
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It occurs to me that they felt like they should say this because the kid probably is blaming herself. It also signals that they’re not going to try and sue the kid’s parents. Knowing that kid’s parents, they’re probably not taking responsibility for their part in the whole thing. The kid is likely the neighborhood and school pariah right now to anyone who can identify her or that family and her playdates have come to an end.
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Poor kid, What a horrible burden to carry at 9!
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Have you heard of the new children’s book entitled, “My Parents Open Carry”?
“Come join 13-year-old Brenna Strong along with her mom, Bea, and her dad, Richard, as they spend a typical Saturday running errands and having fun together. What’s not so typical is that Brenna’s parents lawfully open carry handguns for self-defense. The Strongs join a growing number of families that are standing up for their 2nd Amendment rights by open carrying and bringing gun ownership out of the closet and into the mainstream. If you open carry and have a difficult time explaining why to your family and friends, or if you want to learn about the open carry of a handgun, or if you’ve wondered if open carry is right for you, then this book is what you need. My Parents Open Carry was written in the hope of providing a basic overview of the right to keep and bear arms as well as the growing practice of the open carry of a handgun. We fear our children are being raised with a biased view of our constitution and especially in regards to the 2nd Amendment…”
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What’s hilarious is that the author apparently thinks that this is the kind of book that 13-year-olds read.
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I’m even feeling vicariously embarrassed for the author because this is kind of very pathetic.
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It seems like part of a series designed to troll the reading public by traumatizing them.
All Of My Friends Are Dead>
I Would Really Like to Eat a Child
The Giving Tree
The last is a beloved children’s classic.
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What I’m tempted to ask is, what’s wrong with civilization? Why do people want to live as if they were in a jungle or in another, less civilized place or era?
Can’t these people just attend some Old West historical reenactment event every once in a while?
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Good question.
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Kids are innocent and can do no wrong. Therefore there is nothing wrong with letting them carry weapons and shoot whomever they like. It is adults who are evil. But kids should have all the power, because they just are completely innocent all the time.
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The idea of innocence in general and innocence of children in particular is very mind-boggling to me, so yeah…
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It’s also not the first time something like this has happened. A couple of years ago an 8 year old boy was allowed to fire an Uzi at a gun fair and wound up killing himself:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/father-christopher-bizilj-died-firing-uzi-urged-son/story?id=12565132
According to witness testimony, his father (a doctor!) had encouraged him to use an Uzi even after being warned by instructors that the gun would be too powerful for a kid… But the father apparently wasn’t charged with any crime, only some of the people who organized the gun expo.
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I came across this – Michigan’s Mentored Youth Hunting program in effect as of March, 2012.
“On March 1st Michigan started selling hunting licenses to children of any age. The new Mentored Youth Hunting Program finally allows adults to extend the parenting of their children into the woods!
The hunting program is designed to keep kids active and interested in the outdoors. Under this program, a hunting mentor can purchase a child five different hunting licenses for $7.50. This means a child 9 years and under can shoot two turkeys, two deer, and small game hunt. These licenses are bought over the counter and do not require the child to enter into a drawing for purchase. They allow the child to have the same amount of licenses as any youth 10 to 14 years of age or an adult.
So who is a mentor? A mentor is a person at least 21 years of age, a person with previous hunting experience and in possession of a current hunting license. Technically the mentor does not have to be a parent or legal guardian, but it is advisable to get permission from the actual parent/guardian before buying the licenses.”
http://www.maximumhunting.com/understanding-michigans-new-mentored-youth-hunting-program/
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