just horrible

[Skippy911sc]

But having a gun (particularly an assault weapon) sure does help. This type of attitude is exactly why we will never reach a reasonable solution to the problem. Here's a real doozy: Boy, 8, killed in Mass. gun show accident I read about this, what kind of person lets an 8 year old fire an UZI??? not only that but it sounds as if it were full auto! I have let my kids fire a .22 LR but I am holding their hands as they fire it. I think Kids should learn on a single action wheel gun...no way to fire really fast and only 5-6 rounds.

[Publius]

You should be surprised that it ever happened at all. I am! It kind of follows from that, given that it obviously happened once, I would be even more surprised if this were just the latest in a series of similar incidents. I never mentioned "laws" being a preventative solution. But as long as this piss-poor cultural attitude in the USA exists that the second amendment makes it just A-OK to be armed with every conceivable dangerous weapon, there will be more tragedies such as kids being mowed down because they dared to go trick-or-treating. Sure you'll get people shaking their heads in sympathy, but gosh darn it, we still gotta protect ourselves with AK-47s from all the nut jobs! Sorry if I jumped to an incorrect conclusion, then. What IS your proposed solution? If you're getting at societal disapproval, I think society already disapproves pretty strongly of ex-con drug dealers having guns. Except for hip-hop culture, which seems to think it's pretty cool. I read about this, what kind of person lets an 8 year old fire an UZI??? not only that but it sounds as if it were full auto! Darn right. Especially a Micro Uzi, which has half the barrel length and twice the rate of fire of a normal Uzi. And it WAS fully automatic. Ultracompact submachine guns like that are notoriously difficult to control even for an adult. I have let my kids fire a .22 LR but I am holding their hands as they fire it. I think Kids should learn on a single action wheel gun...no way to fire really fast and only 5-6 rounds. I think a bolt-action or lever-action .22LR rifle is the best thing for kids to learn on. A lot harder to shoot yourself and a lot easier to keep positive control of where the weapon is pointed with a 16+ inch barrel. And not being able to fire more than one round without cocking helps avoid accidents too.

[Yojimbo]

I was taught on a tube fed semi-auto .22 rimfire winchester under the watchful eye of an uncle who was severely obsessive and anally-retentive when it came to gun safety and maintenance. He also fired a snub nosed charter arms .38 special revolver at the range when we were there, which I found to be extremely intimidating and frightening and was scared to attempt to fire. He told me that the .38 was too much gun for a kid my age to fire. Nevertheless, he insisted that I drill on loading and unloading his .38 (using spent casings) Another uncle had a 12 gauge pump -- like in the case of the .38, I was told that I would have to "graduate" to the 12 gauge, but was still made to drill on loading and unloading the shotgun (this time with dummy "snap-cap" rounds) My only point is, at no time when I was learning about firearms would my uncles have handed me a weapon that I was not old enough or strong enough to handle. That kid that shot himself in the head at the range was obviously not instructed properly and was way too young to handle a dangerous weapon like an Uzi. It borders on being criminally negligent to hand a weapon of this type to a kid who cannot handle it, and it is the responsibility of the adults present to make this call. So, I say that there are always going to be stupid people out there - it is just a shame that we cannot keep the guns out of their hands!

[Publius]

I was taught on a tube fed semi-auto .22 rimfire winchester under the watchful eye of an uncle who was severely obsessive and anally-retentive when it came to gun safety and maintenance. My own first gun was very similar. A second-hand Marlin 60 from a L.A. pawnshop.

[acealive1]

My own first gun was very similar. A second-hand Marlin 60 from a L.A. pawnshop.

[strayrider]

It's always the law-abiding, unarmed citizens that get killed. Always? Or is just that the anti-gun, Marxist media only report these types of stories ... rarely do we hear of the numerous accounts of law-abiding citizens shooting criminals (and doing society a favor, I might add). You also mentioned something about using AKs to protect ourselves against nut jobs. True, military style weapons can be employed in this manner, however, their primary function is to protect against tyranny in government. Self-defense, hunting, and target shooting are just added benefits. -stray-

[acealive1]

Always? Or is just that the anti-gun, Marxist media only report these types of stories ... rarely do we hear of the numerous accounts of law-abiding citizens shooting criminals (and doing society a favor, I might add). there was a story about 3 years ago a block from me where some guy broke into a house......and the guy was home. he shot him with a double barrel and the guy ran down my street bleeding to death trying to dump all his "illegal substances and accompanying items" before the cops got him.

[strayrider]

there was a story about 3 years ago a block from me where some guy broke into a house......and the guy was home. he shot him with a double barrel and the guy ran down my street bleeding to death trying to dump all his "illegal substances and accompanying items" before the cops got him. Right, you'll get stories like this locally. Rarely at the National level. -stray-