Daily Lessons from Life 27 August 2014 - 9-year-old kills shooting instructor in Uzi mishap

"9-year-old kills shooting instructor in Uzi mishap - AFP 27 August 2014

WASHINGTON: A nine-year-old girl learning to fire an Uzi submachine gun was unable to control the weapon, accidentally killing her instructor, news reports said on Wednesday (Aug 27).

The tragedy occurred Monday at the Last Stop gun range in the western US state of Arizona, where the girl had been taken by her parents for firearms lesson, US news reports said.

Officials said the girl had successfully managed to control the weapon in the "single shot" mode. But when shooting instructor Charles Vacca, 39, switched the Uzi into the fully automatic setting, the force of the gunfire caused the weapon to rebound upward, and an errant bullet fired by the child struck him in the head.

Vacca died in hospital a short time later, officials said. Authorities later released a video, editing out the fatal shot, of the tragic shooting lesson, which had been filmed by the girl's parents.

A manager at the firing range told NBC News that firearms training at the Last Stop can begin as young as eight years old. Firearms instruction at other shooting ranges in the United States, which has the world's highest per capita number of guns, can start as early as seven years old."

It would have been comical had NOT a man's life was lost and a young life possibly traumatized for a life time!!

Lessons for me are:

1. will this 'accident' and tragedy gets the gun lovers to pause and reflect on their practice of letting young kids of, as stated in the news here, even 7 years old, to have firearms lessons? Probably yes, just for a few seconds for the weaker ones, but not the truly hard core ones. One can possibly see a shrug of the shoulders and hear the comments: 'It happened.'!;

2. it is really a tragic situation with a man's life lost and a young life traumatized with the knowledge that she had just accidentally ended a man's life. Some one's daddy, hubby and son! I hope the girl gets all the protection and help she can get from the authorities. Hopefully the press will leave her and her family alone! A Uzi in 'rapid' mode!! Had the instructor done that before with a kid as young as 9-year old? Even if he had, did that make it 'sensible risks management'? It just blown me away!;

3. anyway, I am glad that Singapore is still very strict on firearms. Even if one had a firearms in a robbery without discharging it, the penalty can be as severe as death sentence. That deterrent sentence will always play on the mind of any criminal who dare try it. It prevents the spread of firearms and I am thankful for that.

May the dead RIP.