I'm not the least bit surprised....

[logjam]

Phantom, I disagree with you there . . .And weapons are just another tool, like a hammer or 1" combination wrench. They don't jump up and kill people all by them selves, like a lot of anti-gun folks would have us believe...No more so than a hammer or 1" combination wrench does..

Weapons are only a tool to use to kill or injure someone or something. I flew a Canberra B2 (B57 to you) and aimed at targets on the ground. Was it just another tool to spend millions of my government's money? Or was it a tool to kill or injure people on the ground?
A gun is no more a tool than a bomb. You can practise shooting at a target, but in the end it's designed as a weapon not a tool.

[OldAirmail]

Unfortunately, pictures like this are all too common in some parts of the world.

Reuters Aug 28, 2014

Palestinian children hold guns as they celebrate with others what they said was a victory over Israel....



Although I think that what happened at that gun range with a small girl being given a full auto weapon was VERY wrong, I doubt very much that she'll grow up like the two kids in the picture above.

A "gun" culture? That may be better than a culture that glorifies death.

[OldAirmail]

Bullets And Burgers’ Gun Range Closed Indefinitely



In the same Inquisitor edition was this article;

Al Qaeda Magazine Calls For Terror Attacks In America, Includes ‘How-To” Articles On Bomb Making

[expat]

As a gun(s) owner, I follow these sorts of thread with interest. I rarely post in them as I don't need to shout about my hobby or justify it. However, this time I will make an exception and comment and it will not be about gun ownership.
What I wish to comment about is that the theme of gun ownership, the pro's and cons, the rights and the responsibilities have as usual left one thing to stand alone and be forgotten about and it is this...............regardless of how you feel about the subject, one persons actions has lead to a nine year old girl having to live the rest of her long life with the knowledge that she has killed another human being........... It is not like she shot over the revetment and hit someone, the instructor was stood next to her. She witnessed it in full colour in the finest detail. How a child of that age will cope with this beats the living crap out of me and I can only imagine

Matt

[H]

I've owned two .22 rifles: a Remington long barrel bolt action and a Winchester semi-automatic. I first fired a rifle (.22) when I was five; I was with my uncle and he made sure it was pointed towards a particular poplar tree; I don't know the manufacturer but it was a bolt action reload -- definitely not capable of automatic fire.
We were never to fire in automatic mode but allowed 48 out of 60 rounds to qualify with the M-16 in the USAF (I scored 60 hits on a human-sized target -- a target about 30 times larger than I was used to with a .22 and my step-dad's 9mm Mauser; I hit the can dead center but I have a scar under my eye from the recoil of the 9mm); in fact, the USAF instructors specifcally warned us to make sure the rifle was NOT in automatic; the instructors stayed behind us, however, knowing a ditz or so would still have the rifle in automatic and spray right up into the firing range roof.
Aside from the genocidal, for what reason would anyone start off training, especially a child, with an automatic weapon of any sort?

[PhantomTweak]

Aside from the genocidal, for what reason would anyone start off training, especially a child, with an automatic weapon of any sort?

Only a "bliddy fool!" as I read someplace once...

And yes a gun IS naught but a tool, same as a hammer (which I can use to kill someone just as well, just a tad shorter range...)
I never said a gun was NOT a tool to kill or injure a human being. That's exactly what they are! So is a bow and arrow, or an Atlatl, or a machete, or a hefty stick, for that matter. It's what they were originally made for and what they do very well in hte right hands, as a hammer builds a house quickly and well...in the right hands (not MINE, I can't pound a nail in straight if I have to... ). Now that my health and body are most assuredly not what they once were, there are, and always have been whether I liked to admit it or not, a LOT of people that can and will be glad to kill or injure me or mine. A gun in my hands may well prevent that, and that's all I ever ask of it. I won't try to build a house, or go fishing (although a bow-and-arrow work admirably for that!), or anything else with it. That's why I own my guns and has always been why I've owned firearms. To kill or maybe at least stop someone bent on MY injury or death, for whatever reason. In combat, in a dark alley, out on a sunlit avenue, I care not, try to hurt or kill me or mine for any reason, and I will be more than happy to return the favor.
I'm not trying to pick a fight with ya, Mr. Logjam, I was simply trying to correct your impression that I may have made that a gun is used for MORE than to kill or hurt people, that's all. A pencil can, and has been, used for the same purpose, and who knows HOW many hammers (etc) have been...

Pat☺

[ozzy72]

Hell Pat, if we look back a couple of million years ago at our ancestors, a rock was a deadly weapon (it was also weirdly used for trepanning, a form of caveman medicine). Anything can be a deadly weapon, I've got things in my kitchen that would impress the nuttiest mass murderer. But as a responsible parent, when my kids are helping me in the kitchen, they're under constant supervision and aware of the dangers, they are shown the safe way to use the tool in question, that way we avoid accidents and losing body parts. This is what I think the major point is in this whole tragic incident. Why did the parents think it necessary for their 9 year old daughter to use a deadly weapon designed for close quarters battle? What possible need is there? I just feel for that poor child, I'd hate for my children to have to live with some terrible tragedy like this. The trauma is beyond words. I mean many of us here have served, we've been trained for it, but that doesn't mean you won't get PTSD, she wasn't in any way prepared for this. The mental scars will be horrendous.
On the flip side, my kids do know they're allowed to shoot at each other with nerf guns, one night they made this mistake of shooting at me when I had one of the toy lightsabers to hand. Daddy deflected all the shots and got a rating of "Bad ass Jedi Master" in his own home