Everyone needs to donate!
Posted on 08/26/2014 6:50:05 PM PDT by Rennes Templar
A shooting range instructor in Arizona was accidentally shot and killed by a 9-year-old girl who was learning how to shoot an Uzi, authorities said on Tuesday.
Charles Vacca, 39, was teaching the girl how to use the automatic weapon on Monday morning at the Last Stop outdoor shooting range in White Hills, Arizona, when she pulled the trigger and the kickback caused the gun to lurch over her head, investigators said.
Vacca was hit by a stray bullet and airlifted to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, where he was pronounced dead late Monday. The girl was at the range with her parents at the time, but their names were not released.
Sam Scarmardo, the manager for the Last Stop's shooting range, told NBC News that "the establish practice at most shooting ranges is 8 years old and up with parental supervision."
He said Vacca was a "great guy, with a great sense of humor" and called him "very conscientious and very professional."
Scarmardo said that the range has never had a similar incident in over a decade of being open — "not even a scratch."
"I just ask everybody to pray for Charlie, and pray for the client, she’s going to have a hard time," said Scarmardo.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety referred inquiries to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, which didn't return calls for comment.
Ronald Scott, a Phoenix-based firearms safety expert, said most instructors usually have their hands on guns when children are firing high-powered weapons. "You can't give a 9-year-old an Uzi and expect her to control it," Scott told the Associated Press.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Google:
Death at the gun range: Five firearm deaths in firearm-friendly environments
A murder - suicide, murder, accident, and suicide IIRC.
Looks like this isn’t the first time something like this has happened at a range:
“Christopher Bizilj | “It’s all legal & fun — No permits or licenses required!!!!,” read the Westfield Sportsman’s Club October 2008 advertisement for their “Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo.” What was billed as a weekend of supervised family fun at this Westfield, Mass., gun range turned into a family nightmare when 8 year old Christopher Bizilj accidently shot himself in the head while firing an Uzi submachine gun. The boy’s father was supporting his son from behind as he started firing the weapon. As Bizilj pulled the trigger, “the front end of the weapon went up with the backfire and he ended up receiving a round in his head,” police Lt. Hipolito Nunez told the AP. In addition to his father, Bizilj was being supervised by one of the club’s certified instructors when he inflicted the lethal injury on himself. Edward Fleury, 53, Former Pelham, Mass., Police Chief and one of the show organizers, was charged involuntary manslaughter for allowing Bizilj access to the Uzi. Fleury was acquitted in January 2011.”
Did no one think it was a bad idea to give a little girl a machine gun to shoot? Apparently not.
Or the kid from No Place Like Springfield in the GI Joe cartoon that packed a rocket launcher. I looked around but really couldn’t find anything like a picture or video clip.
Deleted from the DVD release though if I remember right. There was some minor uproar over it.
About 2 years ago this same type of incident happened ( ie a child with a full-auto smg) except in this one the kid shot and killed himself. I can’t imagine what would possess a sane adult to let a child handle anything but a bench-rested .22 rimfire. Thankfully the child was not physically injured and child services needs to check out the jackass parents. What comes next, kids getting to take a top fuel dragster down the strip? What a sad day for all responsible firearm owners, we’ll be tarred by the brush.
I’m with you...I’d be awfully hesitant to handle an Uzi myself for fear I wouldn’t have sufficient strength to control it properly!
Oh yeah, that what I was thinking reading this.... Real "professional"
A 9 year old boy killed himself with a micro Uzi at a shoot in MA a few years back, and people commit suicide with rental guns not infrequently.
Seems like there have been a lot of deaths lately by people just doing dumb things. You just don’t give an Uzi to a nine-yr-old scrawny girl and let her fire away...
What were these people thinking?
You don’t put that type of weapon in the hands of a little kid with live ammo. Hell even many adults need careful instruction and care before they should handle one.
At the very minimum, put only three rounds in the magazine. Better yet, help the child hold the weapon. Best of all, don't let someone that young handle a fully automatic weapon.
Just load the magazine with one round. Add one or two more when you become comfortable. Firing more than three in full auto mode is not very useful anyway.
The 9 year old was probably damaged for life, after seeing the help drop to the floor...Probably a head shot....Even uglier...
Sheriffs in gunfight with an asshole in Florida a few years ago also.
Ooooooooooooooooo
Bought my boy a Stevens Favorite 22 as first gun. Also, had a Mossberg 22 single shot bolt gun. I am against semi-autos for kids until they get plenty of experience.
After hearing a story about a woman shooting herself under the chin with a 44 mag in recoil——do not know if it was true——when he was eight I loaded a Redhawk with one round and had him shoot it. Ditto with a 45 Auto. He handled them fine except that they were really too heavy for him.
On the vid, the gun started to move right toward his head, before they cut it out. Proabbaly hit him in the face. Awful.
Who hands a nine year old girl an Uzi? How about a single shot .22 instead. This is very sad and gives the gun grabbing left ammo against responsible firearms owners.
I shot my first hand gun, a Glock 17, at a range under supervision. Never waved it around. Of course I had completed two years in the Army but had never fired a hand gun.
No flame necessary, full auto anything is way too much for anybody inexperienced, much less a 9 yo girl.
Development Learning is part of Firearms Training.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.