Uzi accident of 9 year old girl, resulting in the death of a shooting range instructor in Arizona, has had many people wondering about the kind of parents who would allow their child to handle a submachine-gun. The Uzi accident of 9 year old girl not only resulted in a tragic death, but a powerful debate over youngsters and guns.
According to authorities, the accident occurred on Monday as the Arizona shooting instructor was showing the 9-year-old girl how to handle an automatic Uzi. The Toronto Star reports that he was standing next to the girl as she fired at a black-silhouette target. However, the Uzi's recoil wrenched the gun upward, and the girl accidentally shot the instructor in the head and was killed.
The name of the instructor is Charles Vacca, 39. He was a firing range instructor at the Last Stop outdoor shooting range in Arizona, south of Las Vegas, where the Uzi accident of 9 year girl old occurred.
According to the Associated Press, Mohave County sheriff's officials said Tuesday that Vacca died on the same day shortly after he was airlifted to University Medical Center in Las Vegas.
A video was later released by sheriff's officials on Tuesday showing the moments before the Uzi accident of 9 year old girl, which killed the shooting range instructor, happened. Reports say the footage was recorded by one of the girl's parents' cellphone and was later handed to the sheriff's department, which released it to the public.
The video shows the 9-year-old, whose identity wasn't released, wearing a grey shirt and pink shorts, hair pulled back in a long braid and holding the thick firearm with both hands.
Vacca was instructing her from her left. Before the Uzi accident of 9 year old girl occurred, Vacca was telling the girl to turn her left leg forward.
Vacca said in the 27-second video, "All right, go ahead and give me one shot."
With her back to the camera, the girl was even cheered on by Vacca as she fired one round at the target.
Vacca said, "All right, full auto."
The video does not show the actual killing, but it ended with a series of shots in the background.
The incident set off a worldwide spectacle and barrage of angry social-media comments about why a child was even allowed to handle a gun. While some expressed sympathy for the girl, many others questioned whether the adults at the gun range were responsible for the Uzi accident of 9 year old girl, reports The Toronto Star.
According to the New York Times, some who commented also blamed the parents of the child for the incident.
One person wrote on the TripAdvisor page for Bullets and Burgers, the tour company that brings people to Last Stop, "What in the name of Jesus is wrong with us, Americans?"
Another commented, "Automatic weapons as toys? And now a man is dead, for no reason, and a 9-year-old girl is scarred for life."
On Twitter, gun owners defended the practice of letting children use firearms. They said the practice is legal in the Las Vegas area and elsewhere.
On Wednesday, Sam Scarmardo, a former Lake Havasu City Council member and the person operating the shooting range said that the girl's parents had signed waivers. Apparently, that meant they understood the rules of the range.
According to Scarmardo, the range's policy of allowing children 8 and older to fire guns under adult and instructor supervision is standard practice in the industry.
Multiple reports said Scarmardo has been operating the gun range for more than a year now. He has also run another range for 14 years. However, in light of the Uzi accident of 9 year old girl on Monday, he said he would reconsider the range's policies.
Scarmardo said there had been no safety problem before at his ranges.
Scarmardo said in an interview, "It is pretty standard in the industry to let children shoot on the range. We are working with the Mohave County Sheriff's Office, and we'll make a decision if we'll make any changes after we review all the facts."
He added, "I have regret we let this child shoot, and I have regret that Charlie was killed in the incident. We lost a friend - basically we lost a brother - we are all very close, we are a tightknit organization and community."
"Everyone here at Last Stop is either former military or police officer. We are all highly trained in fire arms and safety", Scarmardo said.
According to the NY Times, in White Hills, Ariz., there are four-hour tours offered by one of the big gun ranges, which has become a popular tourist attraction. Beginning at $200 a person, a bus will pick up visitors at their hotel in Las Vegas, show them Hoover Dam and bring them to a recreational shooting range called Last Stop where they can fire weapons such as automatic machine guns, sniper rifles and grenade launchers. There's also a hamburger lunch and an optional helicopter tour of Grand Canyon.
The family of the little girl had probably taken one of these tours, thus the parents allowed their child to handle a gun, thinking it was safe.
According to Scarmardo, the girl's parents "were very familiar with weapons" and that prior to the Uzi accident of 9 year old girl, Vacca and a tour guide had driven the family to the shooting range from their Las Vegas hotel.
Ronald Scott is a Phoenix-based firearms safety expert. According to The Toronto Star, he said most shooting ranges have an age limit and strict safety rules when it comes to children and firearms.
Scott expressed his opinion over the Monday incident and said, "You can't give a 9-year-old an Uzi and expect her to control it."
In Arizona, there is reportedly nothing illegal about a girl firing an Uzi. There are no age limits for using guns.
Laura Cutilletta, a senior staff attorney at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a legal nonprofit that works to strengthen gun laws, said that though federal law prohibits people 18 and below from possessing a handgun, there are exceptions for shooting ranges.
Arizona also promotes events for children and families involving guns. Some firing ranges offer people the thrill of firing weapons which are generally illegal for the public to own, especially Uzis in particular.
They are reportedly considered tricky for being light. When unloaded, they weigh just under 8 pounds, making recoil tricky to handle even for adults, said gun experts.
Some ranges prohibit young children from handling such heavy weapons, but Last Stop allows children as young as 8 to participate, reports the NY Times.
According to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, just in 2014, at least 45 children have been killed in accidental shootings after finding loaded guns at home.
Uzi accident of 9 year old girl reportedly isn't the first accidental shooting by a child with an Uzi. In 2008, an 8-year-old boy named Christopher K. Bizilj died after shooting himself in the head at a gun expo near Springfield, MA. He was firing at pumpkins when the Uzi kicked back. In response, Connecticut imposed tougher gun regulations a year later, restricting the access to machine guns from anyone under 16, reports the NY Times.
Below is the video released by the Mohave County Sheriff's Office in Arizona showing the 9-year-old girl firing an Uzi submachine gun next to her instructor before she lost control of it.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
