8-Year-Old Fires Assault Rifle In South Carolina

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Who in their right mind would give an 8-year-old an assault rifle? However, since this happened in South Carolina, I'm not surprised that this kid was given a rifle in the first place.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/28/s ... destrians/

Just because it was reported as an "assault rifle" doesn't mean that it is one. Assault rifles are actually quite rare outside the military. The news video showed what appeared to be a Winchester model 190, hardly anything that even remotely resembles an "assault rifle".

I've read or heard nowhere that anyone gave him that .22 and it is and will probably remain unknown as to how it got under his bed.

Yes, it's a horrible place and they live on rats, and sawdust bread, and sometimes... on each other. At night, the pyres for the dead light up the sky. It's medieval.

This is the a video from a Charlotte news source. Rock Hill SC is about 20 miles south of Charlotte NC on I-77.
http://www.wsoctv.com/videos/news/police-8-year-old-shot-rifle-over-peoples-heads-in/vCYpwk/

No one got hurt, probably a few butts need to be beat, the situation has been brought under control, and there are bigger things going on than a few rounds being let loose by some mischievous kids in Smalltown USA.

Next...

It's not that unusual for kids that age to learn to shoot with an adult present here.My son (age seven at the time)learned with an old single shot 1930's Winchester .22 that had been handed down from his grandpa,to his dad,and then to him.

As they say down South, "ya all put the candy down, and back away and ev'rythin' will be OK."

I'm so jealous. When I was a lad we had to make do with assault slingshots. Although when I went to summer camp I did get to shoot assault BB guns.

Meh, this 10 year old got to shoot a frickin M2 machine gun!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al3aWD_q7tU[/youtube]

In all seriousness, what the hell were this kid's parents thinking? I'm all for teaching kids how to shoot, BUT YOU DON'T GIVE A KID A GUN AND ALLOW THEM TO TAKE IT OUT IN PUBLIC. This is disregarding the fact that this gun may or may not have been an assault rifle, because even if it were a mere bolt-action .22, he still could've killed someone!

This is what I don't like about US gun culture; too many idiots with no respect for guns are getting their hands on them. Even though I think Canadian gun laws are kinda strict, at least they encourage a safer, saner gun culture.

EDIT: OK, I actually read the article and it turns out the gun was an illegally-owned semi-auto .22, and the kid's parents weren't home at the time. Still, disregarding the fact that this gun was illegally owned, which is an insanely stupid thing to do as it is, the parents were stupid for leaving it loaded under their bed, and for not teaching their son proper gun safety.

The boy was obviously not taught gun safety, and was not supervised by an adult, which was bad

BUT... I do not see what is intrinsically wrong with teaching a kid to shoot. My dad taught my brother and I on a .22 rifle when I was 7, my brother started going hunting with my dad when he was 10. My dad taught us shooting early partially to teach us gun safety. I am glad. It gave me something to do with my dad, and got me into semi-competitive pistol shooting later. I do not shoot rifles very often as I do not enjoy the weather or hours of hunting.

My points exactly.

Sir,
Those are actually Barbecue pits cooking up tomorrows meal. Would you like your long pig with Eastern Carolina Vinegar sauce, or Midlands style Mustard based sauce?

That was actually a line from the original Red Dawn movie describing Denver under siege. I use it when someone goes over the top about a place or even a situation they think is terrible.

The title does not even match what is inside the article. First they talk of an assault rifle, and later on in the article they call it a semi-automatic .22 rifle. Dafuq? Why not call it Sturmgewehr to make it sound even more scary?

/\"Assault Rifle" grabs people's attention. I gave up on expecting integrity in reporting a long time ago.

Letting a little kid shoot a gun is not wrong.

Letting a little kid shoot a gun unsupervised with no education on safety is wrong.

That looks like the only gun I've shot in my life...it was out in minnesota a few years ago with some family and we where shooting homemade targets, we had some old Christmas lights we strung up in a tree an some other random things. I feel like I did pretty well with it being my first time and what not, as I actually hit some of them. But yeah certainly didn't strike me as an assault rifle, though it could certainly kill someone.

I think the police were very reasonable in this situation they just took the rifle away and did not charge the kid with anything

Such is the price of freedom, which I gladly take with all it's inherent risks.