Why does an 8 year old need to know how to shoot a machine gun?
I really am having a hard time getting grips on that as well.
I can understand learning about guns, how to handle them responsibly and respectfully. Clean them, service them, and how to shoot them. Especially if hunting is an activity that is practiced in the family (and especially if hunting is used to help support the family, as well, as it was in mine). Also, I do think it is important for those who live in areas where there are dangerous wild animals, that they know how to use and handle a firearm for protection (as it was also in my case).
But to my best ability, I cannot fathom where machine guns fit into that picture. I was under the impression that it is illegal as hell to hunt with a fully automatic weapon in the US (which an Uzi is).
Perhaps things have changed since I was into hunting, but I simply cannot recall even ONE incident where a hunter had a fully automatic weapon, and was using it to hunt deer or elk with it.
An automatic weapon is really not meant to be used for any type of hunting, to be honest. Without proper training in how to control burst usage (spraying more than 3 bullets is just a waste of ammo, to be honest, for the accuracy after the third round drops drastically), an automatic weapon is more dangerous to those around an individual using such a weapon in such a manner, than it is to the target.
In any regards, I really see no reason to have an eight-year old learn how to fire a fully automatic weapon. At least, not an important enough one that would warrant the inherit dangers of learning to use and handle such a weapon.
WebShaman | The keenest sorrow (and greatest truth) is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.
- Sophocles