I am so sorry for that poor nine-year old girl who accidentally shot her range master/shooting instructor with an Uzi automatic submachine gun. This tragic accident happened at an Arizona popular tourist attraction called Bullets and Burgers (really??). They also broke their own rules, as shooters are supposed to be at least 10-years old. What in the world were they thinking when they all allowed this to happen. Someone with experience (like the range masters) should have been aware of the inherent danger of this activity.

The chief deputy for the Mohave County Attorney’s Office stated he did not fault the parents as they had placed their trust in the range master. I’m sorry, but I do fault the parents, as well as the range master and his establishment. THEY ALL should have known better than to allow this young girl to handle one of the most powerful weapons made. To me, this is nothing short of child endangerment.   A nine-year old girl does not have the physical strength to control the recoil of a weapon like that.

I am a supporter of gun rights and I taught my child to shoot as a teenager, not a nine-year old child. I am an excellent shot and handle my weapons well and responsibly. I have owned .32-caliber, .44-caliber magnum and .357-caliber revolvers; .380-caliber, .40-caliber and many 9mm semi-automatic pistols throughout my lifetime. I have shot an assault rifle (AR) a few times, but it is different and a bit larger (than an Uzi) and I shot it with it set up on a table on the mounting legs attached to it.

I have also shot an Uzi. I will tell you, when I fired the Uzi, I got off quite a few rounds, but at some point the gun got away from me, as a result of the recoil. Being experienced, I was able to control my weapon enough to allow it to go angle up, as opposed to some where else. Once I got my finger out of the trigger guard, and my arms and the gun out of the air, my husband and his cousin told me to finish the clip. I have to be honest, as excited as I had been to shoot this particular weapon, I declined to finish emptying the clip, telling them if I can’t control my weapon, I don’t have any desire to shoot it. I have never shot another Uzi since.

I am so shocked, saddened and heartbroken for that little girl who now has to live with this horrible accident that should have never happened. She has to live with the fact that she has killed another human being. I can’t help but wonder if she really even wanted to shoot that gun, or was it her parents who wanted it. (I say that because the first time my child shot a pistol, she wasn’t thrilled and we didn’t do it again for a few years until she was ready mentally.)

People get a clue – gun rights come with responsibility. Obviously, no one was acting in a responsible manner that day, and because of it, someone’s son (maybe someone’s husband or father or brother, not sure as I couldn’t find that info) didn’t make it home that night. Army veteran Charles Vacca, the range master, managed to survive tours in Iraq and Afghanistan to come home and be killed in such an irresponsible act of stupidity. It just doesn’t get any more tragic than this . . .

The names of the scarred-for-life little girl and her parents have not been released, but the video of the accident is all over the news and the Internet. I did hear on the news that this establishment has decided to change it age requirement to 12 years of age. I’m curious what others think about children shooting guns, particularly weapons of this type.

Just something I was thinking about . . .