Tragic Gun Club Accident...

[fish-fighting-illini]

Fueling the gun-control fire.....

It is horrible that an 8 year old was killed but it was not his fault nor the weapons fault.

Right but yet wrong. The father made a terrible decision and that is the main cause but had the gun not been automatic this WOULD NOT have happened period!

Rights and laws is always a tough balance. Just because you have a drivers liscense doen't mean you cn legaly drive a semi. You can fly a model rocket but it doesn't give you the right to own a Nuke tipped full size rocket!

Guns = yes a right ( although long has surpassed the original intent to need one )

Automatic guns = shouldn't have, no earthly reason to have them

although I can think of one possible legit reason

[atx_newbie]

See I agree as well that civilians dont really need automatic weapons. BUT I have a problem with a govt or a law that says that someone cant have one.

I would leave it upto that persons better judgment to say "I really dont need to own an automatic weapon". If a civilian takes the required safety courses and passes any accreditation and permits, I dont have a problem with someone owning one. Like I said I just have issues with laws trying to protect me from myself.

I partially agree here. I think there are too many laws protecting us from our own stupidity. For example: In Texas, you are not required by law to wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle, but you are required to wear a seatbelt when riding in a car. Tell me how that makes sense and I'll give you my car.

But in the case of automatic weapons, it isn't merely protecting one person from his own stupidity, it's protecting many others from one person's stupidity. That child could just as easily have shot his father or the instructor instead of himself.

[Viper21773]

[quote author=2B243E25602B242A253924232A60242121244D0 l

Guns = yes a right (although long has surpassed the original intent to need one)

[fish-fighting-illini]

[quote author=2B243E25602B242A253924232A60242121244D0 l

Which "original intent " is no longer needed?

The part where we've become a little more civilized since 1776

 I feel pretty comfortable that our government is not going try to "overtake" its people  

 I can see the flip side though that it potentialy does deter someone from trying to use their power to become a dictator. If someone seized that much power our Uzzi's are not going to be much of a match for Abram's tanks and all the high tech stuff.

 some of the over seas countries seem to do very well w/o guns

[Gatorbassman]

I haven't read all the responses yet but here's my opinion.

How stupid can a father be. Come on. A grown man has trouble keeping an automatic weapon down. He and the idiot who offered him the gun need to go to jail and have a sign on the door that says I'm stupid.

[firefightn15]

The permit holder and instructor, if different people, along with the father need their heads examined.  "you can't help thoughs who won't help themselves".  If this is a true statement and an inocent 3rd party (8 yr. old) gets killed, how can you expect big brother not  to want to step in and limit our 2nd amendment rights?  I don't want the government tempering my gun rights, but I sure don't blame them for trying when ignorant and stupid stuff like this happens.  It does no good for the kid to close the gait when the horses are out.  And that's unacceptable.  I like my gun rights. >

[firefightn15]

Brent, I totally agree with you in your statement , "I'd bet there were 20 people watching this horror unfold". No accountability. But how do we, as the public, get through to some of these people?  For those that are the precipitaters of dumb acts, it's like there egos get in the way of responsible thinking.  And for the onlookers, are they affraid to voice their opinion when it's possible someone might get hurt? :-/

[Maxximus Redneckus]

[quote author=2B243E25602B242A253924232A60242121244D0 l

Which "original intent " is no longer needed?

The part where we've become a little more civilized since 1776

I feel pretty comfortable that our government is not going try to "overtake" its people

I can see the flip side though that it potentialy does deter someone from trying to use their power to become a dictator. If someone seized that much power our Uzzi's are not going to be much of a match for Abram's tanks and all the high tech stuff.

some of the over seas countries seem to do very well w/o guns

ya they seem to do without a lot of others things also like the right to go anywhere u like after 12 midnight OR take there kids hunting on public hunting land OR sleep at night wondering if 10 guys with mechetes wil come in and behead ur whole familey

[Glenn]

Let's get away from the 2nd ammendment comments folks.  

[BassinSoldier]

What kind of idiot allows an 8yr old child to fire ANY fully automatic weapon? I would love to see this "instructor's" credentials, and if he indeed has any such credentials they should be taken from him immediately. I am a soldier with the 101st airborne and I have fired many fully auto weapons and size is unimportant. It says the father and the "instructor" let him fire the uzi because it was 9mm?? C'mon people!! I have fired a 9mm MP5 and I am 6'3", 225lbs, and the weapon will still try to walk up on you. This was totally preventable and so stupid that I don't really even know what else to say. The father is being punished enough just watching this nightmare unfold, and the so called "instructor" in my opinion should somehow pay as well. What an dumba**. Even though the father was an idiot for allowing this to take place, my heart goes out to the family of this child, father included, and luckily nobody else was hurt, which easily could have happened. Lets have some common sense folks. The gun law activists just got some gas thrown on their fires...I could go on all day about this but I guess I will cut myself off right here...What a nightmare... > :-[ :'(

[catchnm]

The part where we've become a little more civilized since 1776

I feel pretty comfortable that our government is not going try to "overtake" its people

Happy election week guys!

[Raul]

Gentlemen, we 're not discussing the 2nd amendment, we 're not discussing if you have the right to own guns or not, if it 's old or not, if it 's right or not.

The opinion of many members who have been in the military and it 's their opinion that under no circumstances a child can be allowed to fire an automatic weapon, heck, not even under "supervision" a child should be allowed to be even nowhere near an automatic weapon, less alone fire it.

The only persons responsible for this tragic event to happen are:

1.- The s*t for brains father allowing the kid to fire the weapon ( what can you expect from someone with s*t for brains ? )

2.- The "instructor" which by the way is at the same level of the father, the "instructor" also has s*t for brains.

This event only proves that if there is the slightest and most infinitesimal chance that something can go wrong you can bet it will go wrong.

The only way to always win rolling the dice is not rolling at all.

[jax]

I agree that the instuctor needs to lose his license. It wasn't the guns fault. It did what it was designed to do. To say that kids can't fire automatic guns is not living in reality. How many kids have been made to serve in the warlords armies in Africa and the middle east? They use full auto AKs. To say that kids can't is to underestimate their capabilities. BUT they have to be taught. The problem in this situation lies on the shoulder of the instructor. It was his job to determine who and when people were qualified to shoot his firearms. It was his job tell stupid fathers that their kids weren't qualified to shoot his guns. It was the fathers job to say you aren't educated enough on guns to shoot this full auto gun even though this is a controled and supervised environment. Banning full auto guns will never fix stupidity. If banning something worked we wouldn't have a drug problem and we definately wouldn't have went through the prohibition era.

Look how hard it is to own a gun in Chicago and NY. It is almost impossible to defend yourself. Look at Washinigton DC. Last I checked murder was up since they banned guns. Not down. Guns don't kill people. People kill people. If I'm not mistaken we were killing each other in vast numbers long before automatic guns were invented. A gun is like a fire extinguisher. It is a tool for a purpose.

I'm guessing at this statistic but I assume that stupid kills more people every year than anything else. Ban stupid and you may fix the problem.

I completely agree with Raul, "This event only proves that if there is the slightest and most infinitesimal chance that something can go wrong you can bet it will go wrong."