America: where you need to be 21 to drink a beer but only 9 to handle an Uzi

A 9-year-old girl in White Hills, Arizona lost control of her Uzi — yes, her Uzi —and accidentally killed her instructor. “Some gun owners took to Twitter to defend the practice of letting children use firearms and pointed out that it is both legal and commonplace in the Las Vegas area and elsewhere,” reports the New York Times. Which is true, so far as it goes. But it’s a reminder of the old adage that the real scandal is often what’s legal.

Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, summed it up well in a tweet.