Amazulu

Nobody 'needs' to do anything but if a child wants to learn to shoot, why not?

Shooting is a great sport that teaches discipline, accuracy, concentration and safety. It's also super fun

There would have been competitors at the recent London and Glasgow games that would have learnt to shoot at the age of the girl in this incident

Bermudashorts

Because I think the fewer people in the world that know how to shoot a gun, the better and safer place the world would be.

Amazulu

Kind of naive but if that's what believe then party on

I like guns and have no problem with people (even children) learning to shoot. Adullts should also have a right to own them IMO

I can distinguish between the use of firearms for military, law enforcement, leisure and sports applications

Bermudashorts

It isn't naïve at all. The stats speak for themselves when you look at gun death rates in countries where firearms are available (even subject to appropriate licence) versus those where they generally are not. You are naïve and mathematically challenged if you think the ability to get hold of a gun has no correlation to deaths caused by guns.

OzTennis

Well maybe it could happen in Pakistan but it happened in Rotherham, in a white anglo-saxon protestant country with different laws, morals and so on.

Dorothy

Why? I learned to shoot a hunting rifle at age 12. My brother in law used to take my neice and I moose hunting when we were young.

Alfresco

So very sad.

In my childhood, we travelled with an Uzi on my Mom's lap. I was still a kid. Neither of my parents had ever practised with it on a firing range and it never fired a bullet, thankfully.

Now, to imagine my Mom firing it for real, with never having practised at all, is a very scary thought indeed, especially on full auto.

Later on in life when I did obligatory national service, I learnt to use automatic rifles (R1 & R4) and the recoil was astonishing to say the least, at first. If you have never fired a 'gun' before, it's like driving a car and can get out of control very easily. It requires a lot of practice and then becomes easier, and then old hat.

After that, my ex and I both owned 9mm semi's. We successfully completed our combat training courses and pretty much carried them everywhere we went.

We did have one incident in S.A. at night where I very fortunately defused a situation, only because I was carrying a firearm.

Thankfully I don't need one here and didn't need one in England either.

I miss the target practice sometimes. I used to go every Saturday morning.

Just my 2C.

knockoff nige

Why was there an Uzi on your mothers lap?

mikelincs

In one incident, they came across a 12 yr old girl, drunk, in a room with about 12 Pakistani men also drunk, instead of wondering WTF was going on, the arrested the girl for being drunk and disorderly. If she was being disorderly, she might just have been trying to get away. One of the girls abused was interviewed on the BBC this morning, and yes, she did complain, but nothing was done, and it was, apparently, Pakistani men and white girls involved.

chris955

You only have to look at the gun crime and gun murder rate in America to see that having millions of guns in circulation has only one affect. It doesnt lower the crime rate or the murder rate, ultimately it does nothing positive for safety. Those who for whatever reason support gun ownership are clutching at straws, the figures are there for all to see.

Swerv-o

Something about this doesn't ring true, as drunk and disorderly is only arrestable when committed in a public place. I suspect that the girl was arrested on the pretence of that 'offence' to remove her from the situation.


S

Alfresco

My parents moved from S.A. to Zim (the then Rhodesia) during the war before Zim gained independence. To travel to S.A. from there and back was ambush territory and speed limits were abolished. We travelled in convoys or sometimes by ourselves. Hence the need to protect ourselves.

mikelincs

Then why did the police do nothing more about it?..

Swerv-o

Unable to prove there was any other wrongdoing? I have no idea - I wasn't there - I'm just questioning the accuracy of the story you posted, because it didn't sit correctly.


S

knockoff nige

Sounds like a fair reason. Gun ownership in those conditions is acceptable I think.