Just use common sense

The Journal of New Ulm, Minn.: A news item out of Arizona is an example that even a constitutional right carries a lot of responsibility.

What was supposed to be a fun family day at the shooting range on Monday turned to tragedy when a nine-year-old girl, with her parents standing by videotaping her, accidentally shot and killed a shooting range instructor as he was teaching her how to shoot an Uzi automatic weapon. The recoil from the weapon caused the gun to rise over her head as she held down the trigger, and the bullets hit the instructor, Charles Vacca, 39, in the head.

We have no problem with parents wanting their children to learn how to safely handle firearms.

But to give an automatic weapon like an Uzi, which has a reputation for a rapidly climbing recoil even in experienced hands, to a child is inexcusable folly. The instructor paid with his life, and the child ... will now have to live with this traumatic experience for the rest of her life.