8-year-old's Uzi death at gun show

[Grounogeos]

I say the 15 year old should sue the parents for being irresponsible parents and total fucktards.

Which is more defective: The Uzi or the kid's family?

The parents. At least the gun did its job right.

You, sir, have just gone beyond epic win.

 

[TimbukTurnip]

If only the gun had fired at the idiotic parents, the kid would still be alive and hopefully brought up by a clever - or at least standard intelligence - foster family.
Sorry if that sounds really evil, but i think that would've been better.

 

[nyoe]

America is fucked and always will be.

 

[Heathrow]

Now since I'm posting I guess I might as well throw down my two cents. I believe that people do not have the right do decide whether other humans live or die

So you are pro gun ownership then? Because otherwise you're voluntarily giving over the right to decide who lives and dies to the people who are stronger then you, bigger then you, or willing to break the law. I just can't make sense out of that. You don't want someone else deciding if you live or die, so you give up your ability to stop them?

So you're saying that the ends justify the means? That in order to destroy a monster it is justifiable to become a monster? Since you seem to be having a hard time understanding I will put it as simply as possible: it is more important to do the right thing than it is to be safe.

Edit: Of course it is always preferable to do the right thing and to be safe. Which is why it may interest you to know that I have indeed given up the right to decide who lives and dies my whole life and no gun wielding lunatic has killed me yet, it may still happen but it is extremely unlikely.
Do not try to fool people into thinking they must make a choice between safety and their principles, it is seldom if ever true.

 

[Dancingman]

Okay, that is pretty fricken' awful and my European agrees with the OP on all points... however, there must be a large chunk of sensible Americans who can also see that from the start that whole situation was wrong.

It's unreasonable to assume that such stupidity is typical of America and not displayed elsewhere in other forms... Darwin awards have a catalogue of idiocy, it's highly unfortunate that the main bulk of the stupidity in this case was not from the victim but the victims guardians... if you can call them that.

Thank you for being one of the most reasonable people on this thread. I love how armchair critics and philosophers are so quick to jump on this issue.

 

[Heeman89]

Canada has more guns per person than America, yet significantly less crime. Obviously, the guns aren't going off by themselves, now are they?

Bit of an aside, but this is a myth. Gun ownership for sure isn't the whole story, but it's a big factor, and good indication of the mindset of the population. Canada comes 8th in worldwide gun ownership, and the US is first by a long way, with 50% more per head than it's closest rival.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_gun_ownership

I applaud you for providing a source to back up your argument but I have trouble believing that, they take the number of guns divided by the whole population? How do we know the number of guns is accurate? How do we know the population is accurate? I mean I could take the number of apples divided by the population and probably get the same vastly different percentages. Am I disputing the fact the the US of A has the most guns? No, but I don't think the percentages are that vastly different.

 

[ranasan]

I think bringing the kid to the gunshow was oky, kids can look at guns, there's nothing wrong with that. But for the love of god, don't give them the guns! Especially a machine gun! The hell is wrong with you!? What if they decided to turn them upon the adults I believe guns should be 18+ or maybe 21+... no wait I don't think the 21+ plus would be a good idea...

 

[rcuhljr]

So you're saying that the ends justify the means? That in order to destroy a monster it is justifiable to become a monster? Since you seem to be having a hard time understanding I will put it as simply as possible: sometimes it is more important to do the right thing than it is to be safe.

Then yes we very much disagree, and likely always will. I value the life of a mother more then her attempted murderer. I believe there is a moral difference between killing someone for greed, anger, jealousy, and killing someone to protect your own life. Letting someone else kill you is not 'doing the right thing'.

 

[JWAN]

that's stupid, anyone who knows anything about firearms know that you do not, under any circumstances let somebody handle a gun that they are inexperienced with without proper guidance.

I hunted with my dad for 2 years before he allowed me to go it alone.

 

[Dancingman]

And this thread definitively proves that the in troll comes in European as well as American varieties. I know you folks over there tend to think pretty highly of yourselves, and most justifiably, I'll give you that, your nations are all doing quite well, but us being different from you is no excuse to call us stupid, barbaric, or anything of that sort.

I don't really want a nationalist flame war, I really do not, I know it looks like I'm trying to push buttons but I'm not. I'm just going to leave it at this, if America was as barbaric and stupid as some of you would believe, then we would never have become a center of world commerce and power.

And by the way, I'm more in favor of gun control than I am of gun rights, you just have to realize that the NRA-worshipping gun nut who has a panic attack when seperated from his guns is very much in the minority, just like the raving, fanatical Christian fundamentalist here, or the murderous Middle Eastern terrorist committing atrocities in the name of his faith. I've come to terms with the fact that radicals, no matter how dangerous they are, are almost always in the minority.

 

[BenzSmoke]

"The boy's family claims the gun was defective and unreasonably dangerous, and they blame the failure to properly service it."

Unreasonably dangerous?! It's a gun, it's supposed to be dangerous. Why did the parents allow the 15 year old to hand their kid a weapon? An 8 year old wouldn't have the strength to resist the recoil from an uzi!
That child's death was a tragedy, and it was caused by the irresponsible parents. Not an "unreasonably dangerous" gun.

 

[Grahwo]

Hmm, staring into the barrel of an jammed Uzi, then having it blow off in ones face?
http://www.darwinawards.com/
I think that might qualify for the award. Though I dunno if the kid knew what he was doing.

Anyways, its indeed an tragic incident, though giving an 8 year old kid an Uzi, loaded or not, its plain wrong, SMGs assault rifles aren't meant for that young folks in my eyes.
Though it does surprise me that there aren't more accidents, seeing how they stuff GLock18c and similar stuff into hands of kids.. Older people for that matter >_> *didn't get to try dads G3 before I was 14*

Not that I've got anything against guns =P *has large collection myself*

 

[Skarvig]

mostly illogical, contradictory and supported by myths, half-turths... reminds me a bit of evolutionists.

Must resist the urge to reply ... Ah damnit

You are joking, right? I just hope so.

To the topic. Things like this happen if you live in a society that loves weapons.

 

[JWAN]

Yet the Americans are still so firm about defending their right to bear arms, you never seem to hear about guns saving people just constant tragic accidents and attacks with them.

That's how the media gets viewers.

"There's no news like bad news"

 

[C117]

Guess why I'm against guns...

 

[joshthor]

i dont see a problem with a family taking thier kid to a gun show, but to let him try out an uzi? maybe a 22 or a bb gun or something. something large and single shot (hard to shoot yourself anywhere fatal with if your a kid) but an uzi? also a 15 year old shouldnt be a gun instructor.

 

[atomicmrpelly]

While your post does have some good points, I'm a bit confused here. You seem to be saying that only people who defend themselves against armed robbery with guns get shot. How come I hear about unarmed people getting shot in armed robberies then?

Ok so that's not the only scenario, but it is most common. And, as I also said, in a lot of cases the criminal actually wouldn't have a gun if they were ilegal.

 

[Heathrow]

So you're saying that the ends justify the means? That in order to destroy a monster it is justifiable to become a monster? Since you seem to be having a hard time understanding I will put it as simply as possible: sometimes it is more important to do the right thing than it is to be safe.

Then yes we very much disagree, and likely always will. I value the life of a mother more then her attempted murderer. I believe there is a moral difference between killing someone for greed, anger, jealousy, and killing someone to protect your own life. Letting someone else kill you is not 'doing the right thing'.

And if everyone gave up the right do decide whether others live or die would you even need to make the choice? Would there be a murderer? Would the mother need defending?

 

[Ekonk]

Fair enough brother, I guess I can't really fault you for having a great deal of respect for any form of life.

Well, it's not like I'm some hippie, but that whole 'animals' part was more to make sure the 'guns-for-recreational-hunting'-argument would be countered before it was even used. I suppose one could call it cheating.