Posted on 08/25/2015 7:21:48 AM PDT by Citizen Zed
One year ago today, Charles Vacca's children received the horrific news: Their father, a shooting instructor, was accidentally killed by a 9-year-old girl with an Uzi submachine gun.
Vacca's children have publicly forgiven the girl. But now, they've launched an online petition pushing for legislation to prevent children from shooting fully automatic weapons.
A video on the petition's website features Vacca's four children, starting with his 12-year-old son, Christopher.
"It's legal for kids my age and younger to shoot Uzis," he said. "That hasn't changed."
Vacca's 16-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, offered a startling comparison: "Laws say that children can't drink, can't drive, can't vote. But they can shoot fully automatic assault weapons. That hasn't changed."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Isn’t it already illegal for children to shoot automatic weapons?
Full-automatic weapons should be surgically implanted at birth.
IT IS STUPID TO TRY TO PASS A LAW TO PREVENT STUPID.
Might as well try to make common sense mandatory.
Yes, lets outlaw stupidity.
No, but a child could not legally buy or possess a fully automatic weapon, as they are ineligible for that license.
So by definition, a child firing an automatic weapon includes adult supervision.
Personally I wouldn’t hand an automatic weapon to a 9 year old...but I’m very skeptical of any gun control laws. This incident was a rare fluke - not the norm.
No law can fix poor judgment on that level. Sticking an Uzi in the hands of a small child is off-the-charts dumb.
The Range Officer was not in control of the range.
It does not matter if the shooter is 9 or 99, the RO is there to ensure such things do not happen.
The instructor chose about the most dangerous fully auto weapon for a child to shoot, due to its light weight and short barrel. He also had her shooting offhand rather than at a bench, which would have been much safer. Finally, he stood over her left shoulder, exactly where the recoil would naturally take the muzzle if she lost control.
I don’t think young children shooting full auto weapons is a great idea, but it can probably be done more safely than a child riding a bicycle, if common sense and basic firearms knowledge are employed.
Were the Congress to pass laws based soley upon single incidents, we would have billions of laws preventing everything in this country. We have far too many as it is, for all intents and purposes, more then ever could be read by any single person. Nature has her way of culling the herd.
No, nor should it be.
"shall not be infringed".
You’d probably be better off putting the 9yo at the controls of a tripod-mounted M2 BMG ...
Palestinians teach 5 year old to fire full auto. And cut off heads.
Got to raise the age for cutting off heads.
They are so much more advanced than we, peace loving and all.
/s
When I instruct people on semi-auto handguns, I load the mag with ONE round, and have them shoot one round at a time until I am comfortable with their performance and ability to control recoil.
Oh, please. Their dad made a careless error. Shame that, but another law will fix nothing.
Can’t the parents just say no?
Why do they require the government to say no for them? Wimpy and effeminate people can’t just say no.
I feel for this man’s family, I truly do, but the poor girl is the real victim here, she was failed, failed by every adult around her that day, her parents failed her, the people running the gun range failed her, and lastly and saddest of all the instructor who was killed failed her.
No one, and I do mean no one should have remotely thought its a good idea to put a submachine gun in the hands of 9 year old, who does not have the strength or experience to be handed such a weapon.
There doesn’t need to be a law to prevent this, just adults with some modicum of common sense, which sadly seems to be in short supply these days.
When you hand an Uzi to a child of 9 and they shoot you with it, its called suicide.
Examples:
The list goes on and on.
Why would ANYONE hand a sub machine gun to a 9 year old girl? Except perhaps to defend against zombies.
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