A 9y/o accidentally shooting her instructor
It’s all over the news about how A 9-year-old girl from New Jersey accidentally shot and killed her instructor with an Uzi submachine gun. The instructor stood to her side, trying to guide her. A video of the shooting, suggests that the girl was unable to control the gun’s recoil. The instructor, Charles Vacca, 39, was rushed to a hospital in Las Vegas, where he died Monday night.
The incident is tragic, I am not stating it’s not. But, the media is blowing this incident up to the point that there are bound to be new regulations that are influenced and stemmed from this. People have taken to various social media forums stating that there is “No Reason” why a 9y/o would even be firing an Uzi Sub-Machine Gun.
My question is this: Why not allow her to learn how to fire that weapon? Whether the weapon she fired was an Uzi or a Bersa 380, if there was an incident where someone gets shot, people will view the entire idea as bad from the start. But I disagree! Had the instructor been more conscientious of a few facts: The weapon could ‘pull’, she could lose control; standing beside her vs standing BEHIND her would have been some assessments I would have taken into consideration prior to agreeing to be her instructor. There are also things called freak accidents; of which this was a very tragic occurrence this instructor may have fell victim to.
Regardless of this being an accident or inability of the instructor to correctly assess this situation, I do not believe there is cause to change existing laws that do not allow children as young as 8y/o to learn how to shoot a weapon. Everyone should know how to fire a weapon. I know that where I grew up, just about every boy AND girl learned how to fire various weapons. We had boys and girls at our deer camp. And to be honest, the first 3 days of deer season, the school was closed due to no one showing up. Every dad wanted their children to learn how to fire various weapons for all sorts of reasons. It wasn’t an issue then, why is it such an issue now?
I do not agree that it’s wrong for any 9y/o (boy or girl) to learn how to fire an assortment of weapons. And further more, why should it matter the reason why the parent(s) wanted the little girl to learn to shot this Uzi. The real truth to the situation isn’t the girl was too young to fire that specific weapon; the instructor and the range, did not ensure all safety measures were in place! This same thing could have occurred had it been someone else, an adult, with a weak wrist or a loose grip. But because this incident occurred and there was a 9y/o girl involved, the media and bleeding hearts around the nation will continue to blow this way out of proportion.
Feel free to chime in any time!
I have posted a link to the New York Time’s article covering this story. The New York Times Article for reference to the incident.