Photo by Valerie Leishman.
UNITED STATES—The recent tragedy that involved a 9 year-old girl fatally shooting a gun instructor has sparked outrage across the country. It has raised concerns for many about the issue of gun control in America, but more importantly should an age stipulation be placed on when a child should be allowed to adequately be able to fire a gun.
I’m sorry, but I’m going on a tangent a bit, no child under the age of 18 in my opinion should ever be allowed to practice firing a gun. There are so many drawbacks that I can’t begin to describe them all. I get the whole concept all of allowing teens to learn how to shot for those who hunt, but what caliber of firepower should those teens be allowed to use.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around an instructor and the parents of this little girl thinking its ok to allow a 9 year-old to shoot a machine gun. Why in the world would the instructor even think that was safe? Most people are aware that when it comes to firing a gun, there is always a drawback. Just looking at the video, it was apparent the little girl was having trouble keeping her composure when firing a gun without much firepower. A machine gun would only multiply that intensity of a drawback of a child with such a small frame.
It’s difficult to fathom what the parents of this child were thinking as they allowed their daughter to fire a gun of such a large magnitude, even if she was under the care of a gun specialist. What lesson were they hoping to teach their daughter by allowing her to shoot a gun? Did they consider the possibility of something bad happening in such a situation? Is there an age range that the government has implemented that children of a certain age are able to hold a firearm?
I’ve been told that in most states a child who is at least eight year’s old has the capability of holding a firearm. Really, who in the world has made this declaration?! That just sounds completely negligent in my opinion. No way in the world would I place a handgun of any caliber into the hands of any of my nieces or nephews, regardless of age or if they were with a trained specialist on site.
Predicting what a child will do with a gun in hand is not an easy task; they don’t fully grasp the concept of how dangerous a firearm can be. They may perceive it to be a toy, when in actuality its not. They may jokingly point the gun at someone and it accidently fires seriously injuring or killing someone.
The problem with placing a gun in a child’s hand is it’s a gamble. That is what transpired in last week’s recent incident in my opinion. The parents gambled, the gun instructor gambled, and the result was deadly. It should have never happened to begin with, and the parents and even the instructor should have been against allowing a girl to fire the weapon.
If anything, he should have been behind the girl while she was firing the automatic gun and had his hand on the weapon as well. I’m not condoning the girl firing the gun, but if it was adamant that she participated in such a dangerous ‘sport’ as some would call it, better supervision standards should have been in place.
This needs to be a vocal announcement that guns are not for kids, no shape, no form, and no exception. It’s a bad thing to teach children about weaponry, especially guns at such a young age.
By Trevor Roberts
