This is primarily a travel blog in which I write about traveling in our motorhome. Our travels have

Nacogdoches, TX, United States
I began this blog as a vehicle for reporting on a 47-day trip made by my wife and me in our motorhome down to the Yucatan Peninsula and back. I continued writing about our post-Yucatan travels and gradually began including non-travel related topics. I often rant about things that piss me off, such as gun violence, fracking, healthcare, education, and anything else that pushes my button. I have a photography gallery on my Smugmug site (http://rbmartiniv.smugmug.com).

Saturday, August 30, 2014

The "Not Responsible Association"

The “instructor” stood very close to the little nine-year old girl. He was probably within a foot of her, surely no further away than two feet. She struggled to hold the small, yet large for her small frame, weapon of war designed for the sole purpose of killing people. She pulled the trigger of the mini-Uzi submachine gun and as the bullets spewed out at a rate approaching 30 rounds per second with a force of recoil equal to 100 pounds of thrust, she was unable to keep the weapon pointed downrange. In a second or less the Uzi had propelled itself upward, to the left, and over her head. Before she could release the trigger, one of the bullets, traveling at a speed of 1,312 feet-per-second, passed through the brain of the “instructor.” The little girl was probably sprayed with the man's blood and/or brain tissue. Her mother captured the entire thing on video.

The NRA fears this incident may lead to age restrictions being placed on a child’s second amendment rights to fire fully automatic military weaponry. Only two days after the little girl’s world was changed forever, the NRA Women tweeted a link to an article entitled, “7 Ways Children Can Have Fun at the Shooting Range.” The article suggests using colorful targets for children who have grown bored with the standard bull’s-eye. It also suggests that children “can imagine they’re getting rid of the monsters from their nightmares” by shooting at zombie targets. It said nothing about blowing the brains out of someone.

I'm sure that the girls parents are very distraught. But I'm not worried about the little girl's parents. They should have known better. Or perhaps they are just stupid. But, what about the little girl? Has everyone lost sight of the fact that she has suffered a severe emotional trauma? Will she be tormented by PTSD for the rest of her life? Will she ever be happy again? Will she think she is a “bad” person? What will she dream of in her sleep? Are guns more important than our children? Apparently the NRA believes so.

2 comments :

Bill said...

The gun zealots are fond of saying, "guns don't kill people, people kill people." Well, in this case the gun killed the person. A nine- year old child certainly didn't.

Robert & Carol Ann Martin said...

I hadn't thought of that, but that is a good argument to use against the "guns don't kill people" group.