Bless the little children...

So, I read the news this morning where an 8-year-old boy shot and killed himself while shooting an Uzi submachine gun at a gun show. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?

What kind of flippin' idiot allows an 8-year-old child to handle an Uzi without assistance? Expanding on that, what kind of ("properly certified and licensed) idiot just stands there and watches? I have a 7-year-old son, and I know damn good and well that there is no way in hell he would have the strength to hold the weapon steady or the knowledge of how the weapon would handle when fired.

Don't get me wrong - I have nothing against guns. My husband and I both enjoy firing them and doing some hunting. Our children will be introduced to them and taught to fire them, if only to teach them about the damage they can do and how to handle them responsibly. But as far as I'm concerned, responsible education DOES NOT include using an Uzi at the age of 8.

Reports say the father was standing behind his child - but where were the knowledgeable people who should have said "Sir, you'll need to help your son actually HOLD THE GUN"? Or the people who might have expressed a little bit of concern over a child that young firing a submachine gun? And how certified and licensed was the idiot who stood there and watched the whole thing without INSISTING upon either the father helping to hold the gun, or preferably, doing it himself?

I am just sick over this. What a waste of a child's life, for something that was totally preventable and absolutely asanine in the first place. I feel for his parents to the extent that they have lost their child. But part of me truly hopes that this father and this instructor are haunted by guilt for quite some time to come. Mean? Maybe. But there is a high degree of responsibility that comes with having and raising a child, and too damn many people are bowing out of that responsibility. And when you abdicate your responsibility, too often the child is the one to suffer. I only pray that this child, Christopher, did not suffer and was gone before he knew what happened.

Someone ring a bell - Christopher just got his angel's wings.