Update 8-28 at 10:45 PM:
I watched Chris Hayes tonight and he ran this short follow up segment reporting that bullets and burgers, Sam Scarmardo's gun range and restaurant, is closed indefinitely!
http://www.msnbc.com/...
YESSSS!!!
I hope it's closed forever.
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http://www.msnbc.com/...
I was washing dishes, half-paying attention to Chris Hayes interviewing Sam Scarmardo, the operator of the gun range where an instructor accidentally helped a nine year old girl kill him, when something caught my ear: Scarmardo said that shooting an uzi, "was high on her bucket list."
WTF? Nine year olds don't have bucket lists.
So I went back to the beginning of the interview and this time I paid attention and started transcribing a bit. It's just a partial transcription, as I don't have the energy to do the whole thing, and anyway it isn't necessary to read the whole thing, as you really have to watch it to get the whole sickening effect. Unfortunately, MSNBC videos don't want to embed these days, so click the link to watch and listen to this gun nut talk in a monotone voice with no real feeling, as he says his dead employee was a friend like a brother and the little girl who was put in the horrible position of accidentally shooting him had a bucket list which included shooting an uzi.
Chris Hayes: "My condolences, you must have been going through a horrible grieving period, this was a co-worker of yours. Have you been able --"
Sam Scarmardo: "He was like a friend and a brother too."
CH: "Yeah. Have you been able to understand what went wrong?"
SS: "We're having a policy review on what went wrong up there and reviewing the video tape -- I've requested the entire video tape, because that one's rather, you know, it's rather brief and everything -- and you know we're gonna review that and see if we have to make any changes to the policy up there... We've never had an injury of any type -- not even a bandaid injury."
CH: "... you told a reporter that a 5 year old can shoot a 22 if they have their parents consent. Could a five year old also conceivably shoot an uzi...?"
SS: "...we don't let anybody enter the range -- except on the 80 eagle program [whatever that is -- maybe guns for tots?] -- unless they're eight years old or older -- and we grow some pretty big eight year olders out here in Arizona...
... This was a very mature young lady, and it's something she wanted to do and her parents were treating her. You know, this was a big -- something that was high on her bucket list to do and her parents took her out to do what she was gonna do...
... It's something she did, it's a tragedy and my heart goes out to her...
… We're a very tight knit group here. It's more like family. I don't want any of my people to stub their toes, let alone get killed in the process, you know it's heartbreaking."
CH: "... why would you let an eight year old shoot an uzi? I mean what's the possible upside? The downside is so horribly clear. What do you say to people that just look at this and their jaws are on the floor?"
SS: "Well, you know I tell you we've had probably 100,000 people shoot on our two ranges combined, and we've had of that probably 1500 to 2000 have been kids. The kids rent a lot of automatic weapons, we do birthday parties for children here, we do bachelor and bachelorette parties...
... we've got first aid kits and the god-darned things are brand new. Never had an injury in the place."
I doubt the employee was like a brother, as Scarmardo shows not one hint of sadness as he interrupts Hayes to say so. Five to nine year olds are not mature enough to shoot guns, no matter how big they are. Killing the instructor was not something the little girl did, it was something that the instructor accidentally guided her to do. She is a victim, likely scarred for life. As for getting to study the whole video, I imagine Scarmardo and his attorney will eventually get to study it in discovery, when the instructor's family sues. And, once again,
NINE YEAR OLDS DON'T HAVE BUCKET LISTS.
There are a lot of fucked up people who love their guns too much in this country. It's time to rein them in. I hope Scarmardo gets sued out of business.
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It's way past my bedtime. I'll check for comments when I wake up.
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It was nice to wake up and find this on the rec list. I have one quick addition:
I think Scarmardo is making it up when he says shooting an uzi was high on her bucket list. He may indeed have asked the girl if she wanted to do it and she may have answered yes, but he sounds like a purveyor of bullshit to me. I realize that's conjecture, but if shooting an uzi was truly on this girl's bucket or wish list, I think she would exhibit at least a slight amount of understanding of the forces involved, as one would expect of any gun enthusiast.
There are many kids who are fascinated with guns and who read and watch a lot about guns -- I imagine some of them get their knowledge from websites their parents forbid them to visit. If they know enough about guns to want to fire a machine gun, they have at least heard about recoil. I hated guns when I was a kid -- still do -- but even I knew about recoil by the time I was nine.
In the video, the girl doesn't even know how to stand, let alone how to hold the gun. If she were truly a gun enthusiast who wanted to fire a machine gun, she wouldn't have appeared to be a fish out of water standing there on the range. That's why I don't believe Scarmardo and also why he pisses me of so much. He appears only to be concerned with his business and is trying to spin this, "accident," in a way which will cause the least damage to his bottom line. He makes me sick. Again, I hope he gets sued out of business.