# Of course a nine-year-old girl can handle a Uzi, right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 27, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631 "2014-08-27T14:12:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/1 "2014-08-27T14:12:35Z")
[Guess not.](http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Girl-accidentally-kills-gun-instructor-with-Uzi-5715518.php?cmpid=hp-hc-nationworld) I really can’t imagine what parents, gun range or instructor could be thinking… presupposing they had the equipment to think in the first place. Gun training for kids? Sure, I guess. Handing an alley broom to a kid for the fun of it? Insanity. And Darwin Award to boot. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/2 "2014-08-27T14:22:38Z")
Sorry to keep posting links in reply to posts today but this shows there is a certain prevalence of it in some parts of the US: [Armed to the milk teeth: America's gun-toting kids | Photography | The Guardian](http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/apr/29/armed-to-the-milk-teeth-america-gun-toting-kids) ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/3 "2014-08-27T14:30:11Z")
Poor girl. She needs new parents. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/4 "2014-08-27T14:50:19Z")
And definitely needs a new gun instructor. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/5 "2014-08-27T14:54:35Z")
Perhaps a less powerful weapon, too. ---
**Author:** ![blue\_infinity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_infinity/32/2817_2.png) [@blue\_infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blue_infinity)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/6 "2014-08-27T15:06:48Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > And definitely needs a new gun instructor. As famous last words go “All right, full auto” could only be improved on by adding “Hold my beer.” ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/7 "2014-08-27T15:26:35Z")
> [@blue\_infinity](#): > > As famous last words go “All right, full auto” could only be improved on by adding “Hold my beer.” Never fired an Uzi. Maybe the switch has “single”, “auto”, and “natural” selection? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/8 "2014-08-27T15:31:53Z")
I couldn’t find any information yet on whether the instructor had reproduced, so the Darwin Award might be an unproven assumption. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/9 "2014-08-27T15:35:42Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > Never fired an Uzi. Maybe the switch has “single”, “auto”, and “natural” selection? For the win. Maybe the all-day win. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/10 "2014-08-27T15:38:04Z")
Man, I’ve heard of rotten ways to commit suicide before, but “suicide-by-nine-year-old” really takes the cake. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/11 "2014-08-27T15:39:36Z")
Uzi’s and kids don’t seem to mix well. > **[Boy, 8, accidentally kills self at gun show](https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna27399337)** > > An 8-year-old boy died after accidentally shooting himself in the head while firing an Uzi submachine gun under adult supervision at a gun fair. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/12 "2014-08-27T15:40:42Z")
In Vietnam, when Special Forces advisors were training Montagnards and Hmongs in using full auto weapons, they’d use M-60s with 6 round belts and M-16 magazines with 5 rounds. They’d work up to full belts and mags. I could’t tell by the clip, but was the stock extended on the Uzi? I don’t care what you see in movies or TV, when you first try out something like that, you extend the stock and either hold it against your shoulder or between your elbow and your torso. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/13 "2014-08-27T15:45:35Z")
This is like the difference between giving a kid a moderately-powered, controllable pistol or rifle to actually learn something about gun handling, safety, and even fun… and tossing them the keys to your Enzo or Carrera GT for a few spins around the track. Just what do these moron (adults) \*think \*is going to happen? Does all red-state “fun” have to involve a high chance of maiming or death? Are the storm troopers so out of control that little Susie needs to handle full-auto assault weapons, in case mom and dad go in the first attack? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/14 "2014-08-27T15:47:12Z")
Obviously gun instructors should be armed to protect themselves from little girls. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/15 "2014-08-27T15:54:27Z")
Man, that kid’s life is ruined. How do you get over having shot and killed a guy at 9? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/16 "2014-08-27T15:55:40Z")
Clearly, we need to outlaw 9-year-olds. Those things are dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/17 "2014-08-27T16:22:06Z")
Kids don’t kill people, parents with kids kill people. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/18 "2014-08-27T16:26:38Z")
Concur with giving **Count Blucher** mega-props. Smartly done, sirrah! ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/19 "2014-08-27T16:37:56Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Man, that kid’s life is ruined. How do you get over having shot and killed a guy at 9? ☹ Exactly. How do you ever top that? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631/20 "2014-08-27T16:44:16Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Exactly. How do you ever top that? Should make for some interesting “first date” table talk when she’s older. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-course-a-nine-year-old-girl-can-handle-a-uzi-right/696631.md?page=2)