9-Year-Old Fatally Shoots A 39-Year-Old Gun Instructor With An Automatic Machine Gun
A shooting instructor is dead, the victim of a gun-range accident. The 9-year-old girl, who accidentally killed him, is surely traumatised. And plenty of people, including many gun enthusiasts, are left wondering: Why give a child a submachine gun to shoot?
By Sadho Ram — 28 Aug 2014, 12:20 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
A 9-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed a gun instructor with an automatic Uzi in White Hills, Arizona, according to Mashable
A criminologist shows an Uzi submachine gun. It is not the same weapon used in the accidental shooting.
Image via mshcdn.comThe girl, who was unidentified, shot 39-year-old instructor Charles Vacca in the head on Monday, Mohave County Sherriff's deputies said in a release.
mashable.com
She was learning how to use the weapon. The shooting took place around 10 a.m. local time at Last Stop, a business with a shooting range that's located in the ghost town. The girl, who police did not identify, was accompanied by her parents.
cnn.comIn this YouTube video that cuts of before the fatal shot, the instructor is seen positioning the girl, who is wearing pink shorts and pink earmuffs, during part of the lesson before he was shot. WATCH:
When the girl pulled the Uzi's trigger, the recoil sent the gun over her head and shot Vacca, the instructor who was standing next to her
Vacca had his right hand on the girl's back and his left hand under her right arm when he was shot. The man, from Lake Havasu City, was airlifted to a medical center in Las Vegas, but he was pronounced dead Monday night.
cnn.comAccording to a CNN report, no criminal charges will be filed
Chief Deputy Mohave County Attorney Jace Zack told CNN on Wednesday that prosecutors didn't foresee criminal charges. The Mohave County Sheriff's Office said the girl was with her parents. The three reside in New Jersey. 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."
cnn.comAuthorities said the death was being handled as an industrial accident, with state occupational safety and health officials investigating. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also was notified. An autopsy on Vacca was completed but the cause and manner of death were pending, according to Colleen Pitre, a representative of the medical examiner's officer. She would not say how many times Vacca was shot.
Many Twitter users were stunned by the news, and commented on the appropriateness of letting a child shoot an Uzi
We've reached a point w/guns in America where the headlines are dystopian. 9yo kills instructor w/Uzi? http://t.co/aBwJekgWys via @semayer
— Alicia Mayer (@RealAliciaMayer) August 26, 2014
Chas Vacca, Shooting Instructor, Fatally Shot By 9-Year-Old Student. Maybe 9 is too young for Uzi shooting lessons? http://t.co/J6XI5PFKBa
— Mark C. Crowley (@MarkCCrowley) August 26, 2014
Gun instructor killed by 9-yr old while teaching her to shoot an Uzi. Gawd - so many, many things wrong with this. http://t.co/FcZctWHNAB
— Salim Ismail (@salimismail) August 26, 2014
In case you are wondering, what are tiny kids doing firing massive automatic weapons? Well, just what the US law entitles them to do.
People shoot their guns at the Southwest Regional Park shooting range near the Crossroads of the West Gun Show at the Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson, Ariz.
Image via wordpress.comThe vast majority of US states permit children to fire guns at shooting ranges provided they are supervised by an adult (or, in stricter states, a licensed instructor). This isn’t the first time a child has killed someone with an Uzi at a firing range. In 2008, an eight-year-old boy in Massachusetts accidentally shot himself in the head when the micro Uzi he was shooting recoiled.
qz.com
How can someone so young be allowed to fire such a high-powered weapon? The answer: Because she was accompanied by an adult. “I think you’ll find that state laws provide for those under a certain age, usually 18, to shoot when under adult supervision or instruction,” says Michael Bazinet, a spokesperson for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “Youth shooting sports are generally extremely safe activities, enjoyed by millions of Americans.”
time.com
There is no federal legislation that restricts minors from shooting range activities, leaving it up to the states and the ranges themselves to determine who's too young to shoot
Bullets and Burgers, a shooting range in the Arizona’s Mojave Desert where the incident took place Monday morning, allows children as young as eight to shoot as long as they’re accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. Under Arizona law, minors as young as 14 can shoot at a range without adult supervision.
time.com