In this Aug. 25, 2014, image made from video provided by the Mohave County Sheriff Department, firing-range instructor Charles Vacca, left, shows a 9-year old girl how to use an Uzi. Vacca, 39, was standing next to the girl at the Last Stop range in Arizona, south of Las Vegas, when the girl squeezed the trigger, causing the Uzi to recoil upward and shoot Vacca in the head.Gunplay isn’t play
Who thinks it is wise to give your 9-year-old Uzi-shooting lessons? Even just a one-day vacation lark?
It isn’t. It wasn’t. It never will be.
The New Jersey girl in pink shorts and a braided ponytail was one year older than the minimum age allowed to shoot at the Mojave Desert tourist company and shooting range, Bullets and Burgers. But she couldn’t control the recoiling Uzi submachine gun when it began firing a barrage of ammunition. The gun – with slugs flying out at a rate of 600 rounds per minute – rose leftward and over her head until bullets struck the instructor behind her.
The shooting range that connects Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon is popular with tourists. It advertises four-hour packages in which tourists can be picked up at their hotels, driven to the property and given “the opportunity to fire a wide range of fully automatic machine guns and specialty weapons” including AK-47s and grenade launchers. “Lunch is served, and guests can have videos taken of their shooting experience,” according to the website.