9 year old girl accidentally shoots, kills instructor with Uzi in Arizona

[Isabelle]

You would think these gun people would learn. Wasn't it not long ago a little boy was at a gun show with his dad and was allowed to shoot a gun. He accidently killed himself! We need laws!

 

[Indy Anna]

I had to look twice to see where this was located. The only reason I could imagine for a 9-year-old to be learning to use an Uzzi was that she was being trained by a terrorist or para-military group. Now that girl is going to be gun-shy and live with the guilt of instructor's death the rest of her life -- although she is not to blame. Sometimes parents think that their children should be just as strong as they are. (When I was about 10, I wrecked on a speed bike with rusty hand brakes. My dad had found it at a junkyard and poo-pooed my complaints of the handbrakes being too hard to activate. After the accident, my dad was angry that I wasn't able to handle the bike). I hope the parents in this case won't be blaming the little girl for not being able to control the gun. She doesn't need the added guilt because IT IS NOT HER FAULT. I hope she will receive counseling to help her get through this. I hope the parents also receive counseling to learn that their child's safety and the safety of others is much more important than their bravado.

 

[Kaliste]

Why in God's name would her parents allow her to shoot an Uzi.....and why the hell were they filming it? For what purpose? Idiot parents have severely damaged this child for life. WTF.

Agreed. I am SO angry over this. Absolutely irresponsible parenting. This child will be haunted by this for the rest of her life. What were they thinking?!

 

[SStarr33]

check this photo out:

Tragic: This screen grab shows the split second before the nine-year-old girl shoots Charles Vacca in the head. In the frame, the girl can clearly be seen to have lost her double handed grip on the Uzi as it recoils after firing. Her left hand is prized free as bullets fire (seen hitting behind the target circled in red). The gun is in her right hand and is clearly moving towards Vacca

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...g-teacher-head-visit-range.html#ixzz3BcPT6Z3A
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

 

[Really?]

That kids gonna have some frightening nicknames in school.

Kids can be cruel. Moo

 

[missy_g]

I know exactly why this happened.
The family was on vacation. They saw an ad for a cool place called Burgers and Bullets. Dad thought it would be totally awesome to video his daughter shooting an Uzi.
His plan obviously failed.
Also the instructor should have been holding the gun AT ALL TIMES.
Lots of things went wrong that day and this poor girl is going to pay for it.

 

[Leilei]

I know exactly why this happened.
The family was on vacation. They saw an ad for a cool place called Burgers and Bullets. Dad thought it would be totally awesome to video his daughter shooting an Uzi.
His plan obviously failed.
Also the instructor should have been holding the gun AT ALL TIMES.
Lots of things went wrong that day and this poor girl is going to pay for it.

Some vacation

 

[gitana1]

check this photo out:

Tragic: This screen grab shows the split second before the nine-year-old girl shoots Charles Vacca in the head. In the frame, the girl can clearly be seen to have lost her double handed grip on the Uzi as it recoils after firing. Her left hand is prized free as bullets fire (seen hitting behind the target circled in red). The gun is in her right hand and is clearly moving towards Vacca

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...g-teacher-head-visit-range.html#ixzz3BcPT6Z3A
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

In the article, someone is saying that it's easy to think a out why something shouldn't have happened in retrospect, "because", and now they know what that because is.

Well we already knew what the because was. The little boy killed shooting aa similar Uzi. What wasn't that enough of a warning?

Btw, the llittle girl's body language in the photos seems unsure.

 

[missy_g]

I don't think she's ever held a gun before.

 

[gitana1]

That kids gonna have some frightening nicknames in school.

Kids can be cruel. Moo

I'm way more worried about the lifelong trauma, nightmares and guilt she will face. I'm sure her family will protect her identity and so would school officials. But she can't escape what she witnessed. Imagine being only 9, seeing an adult killed in front of your face and realizing you did it! That's intensely horrific for a young child. I feel very sorry for her.

 

[MsFacetious]

Hopefully since they were just passing through while traveling... her identity won't be known at home. :twocents:

 

[gitana1]

Why is it even legal for such young children to use an Uzi? We don't let 8 or 9 year old drive cars, but someone thinks it's a good idea to legally allow them to use such a powerful gun?

I feel sorry for the girl, but no one else. The adults KNEW the risks and made the choice anyway. parents and instructor.

I guess the Uzi doesn't carry a warning, not recommended for use under the age......

This was avoidable.

With respect, friend, the man who lost his life was a husband and father and well liked. He made a very poor judgment call. But he didn't deserve to lose his life for it and I do feel sorry for him. This was a terrible, horrible mistake and totally preventable but it was a mistake. Why shouldn't he and his family be pittied? Why does the act of making a very poor decision mean we should feel like the person who experienced the bad result due to their faulty decision making does not merit sympathy? It's not like he raped or Killed anyone.

I also feel sorry for everyone who witnessed the death. Not just the girl. Just because they are at A gun range doesn't mean they deserved to witness such a tragedy. They will all suffer because if this.

 

[Cubby]

The website of Bullets and Burgers, the shooting range where the accident happened, says children between the ages of 8 and 17 can shoot a weapon if accompanied by a parent or guardian.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/26/us/arizona-girl-fatal-shooting-accident/index.html

I guess choosing to work for a company as an instructor that allows children as young as 8 to fire an Uzi, provided they have a parent or guardian with them, the instructor knowingly chooses the risk. I never said he deserved it, I simply do not feel sorry that his chosen career was a risky one and that risk cost him his life. Not everything that is legal is safe.

 

[missy_g]

That's a good point. Also that place seems like a tourist attraction!

 

[MsFacetious]

Danas questioned why the instructor in Arizona was standing immediately to the left of the Uzi,
which would have recoiled in that direction.

"It's an awful shame," he said. He shouldn't have been to the left side of the gun...
But that child should not have been shooting anything other than a single-shot firearm.""

Danas, whose daughters are 11 and 13, said his girls learned to shoot when they were 4 years old, with a single-shot, .22-caliber pistol.

Greg Block, who runs California-based Self-Defense Firearms Training, said not only was the Uzi the wrong gun to use --
"That's not a kid's gun" -- but that instructors should stand to the rear and to the right of the shooter.

"He was literally in the line of fire," Block said of the instructor.
"He did pretty much everything wrong, and I don't like saying that because it cost the man his life."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/26/us/arizona-girl-fatal-shooting-accident/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

 

[missy_g]

Did you read where it said there should have only been 3 rounds in the gun? Unbelievable.

 

[MsFacetious]

Steven Howard, a Michigan-based gun expert who runs American Firearms & Munitions Consulting,
said it was difficult to comment based on the limited information available about the Arizona shooting,
but added that the clip on the submachine gun should not hold more than three rounds during instruction.

"Teaching people machine gun 101, even with adults, even with people going through military training,
the first few times they shoot machine guns you don't have them shoot a full freaking clip," he said.

"The thing begins to fire and it begins to jump and buck all over the place.

Your first human instinct is for your hands to clamp down,
and you clamp down on the trigger and if the thing has a 32-round magazine ...
it starts spraying all over and people get killed."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/26/us/arizona-girl-fatal-shooting-accident/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

That seems like common sense to me...

I could compare it to a snowmobile since that is what I know.
If something scares you and you panic, you may push harder on the throttle, which sits on your right handlebar.
This has resulted in some inexperienced riders hitting trees or people or whatever.
It takes years of experience to change that instinct. I no longer grab the throttle if I get startled, but only the handlebar itself.

This 9 year old would have by instinct pushed the trigger down even more when she started to lose control of the gun.
Simply because that is where her hand would have been at the time.

I wonder if only 3 shots would have made a difference?
Which number shots killed him? 1-3? 6-10? 20-25? That would be good to know as well. :twocents:

 

[Lovejac]

Because a nine year old handling an Uzi makes perfect sense. Smh. Dang sad all around

If the instructor hadn't been shot and killed, what do you want to bet the video would have been put on the parents FB and youtube.

I'm absolutely disgusted. Now because of a stupid choice made by this girls parents, she will have to live the rest of her life knowing she killed someone. An awful big burden to carry at the tender age of 9.

And for the record, we are a gun owning family.

 

[MsFacetious]

"To put an Uzi in the hands of a 9-year-old ... is extremely reckless, " CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes said.

-----------------------------------------------------

Asked about the culpability of the girl's parents, he said:
"We have considered the parents, but if anyone was culpable it would be the instructor for putting a deadly weapon in her hands."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/26/us/arizona-girl-fatal-shooting-accident/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

 

[Meryl12]

If her parent's were irresponsible enough to think that there is nothing wrong with teaching a 9 year old girl to use an Uzi, then they are not going to be the wisest parents to nurture the traumatised child through the aftermath of this tragic death (of the instructor). To tell the girl "it is not your fault" means they have to face the fact that it was "THEIR FAULT". I doubt this poor girls parents want to see it that way, her problems are far from over. Just my opinion.
I think the parents would prefer to think that she was just not strong enough..that makes it her fault..not theirs. She has to go home with these <modsnip> parents, and they have to nurture her, and they are just too <modsnip> to be capable of that. Just my opinion.