9yo Girl Accidentally Kills Shooting Instructor

[Keith B]

Sad...shooting instructor dies…after a 9-yr-old accidentally shoots him in the head w/ an Uzi

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/26368466/ ... in-arizona" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[carlson1]

Very sad! That little girl will need a lot of love, prayer, and someone to talk to.

I don't think I would have been standing that close to the end of the muzzle especially on full auto.

[philip964]

I thought the letting children shoot machine pistols ended with previous death. Are people not paying attention.?

[LAYGO]

Here is an article that seems to contain the video of the incident, all the way up until the point of impact:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ari ... zi-n189611" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[A-R]

I thought the letting children shoot machine pistols ended with previous death. Are people not paying attention.?

Yep, 8 year old shot & killed himself with a machine pistol about 6 years ago.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/27399337/ns/u ... -gun-show/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Parents (and instructors) need to show better judgment.

[jmra]

I thought the letting children shoot machine pistols ended with previous death. Are people not paying attention.?

Yep, 8 year old shot & killed himself with a machine pistol about 6 years ago.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/27399337/ns/u ... -gun-show/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Parents (and instructors) need to show better judgment.

I remember that. 8 and 9 yo kids should be shooting bolt action rifles if not single shot rifles. Putting full auto weapons in the hands of any novice regardless of age is an accident waiting to happen.

[baldeagle]

Loading any high powered weapon with more than one round, while training someone, especially a child, is a recipe for disaster. We've all seen the videos of women shooting a .50 cal pistol and the second round going off right in front of their face. Load a round and let them shoot it so they understand the recoil. Load one more and have them try it again. When they are properly handling the recoil, then, and only then, do you load multiple rounds in the weapon.

[thatguy]

I normally stand on the "strong side" and just behind of a person shooting, the muscles weakest path is to their weak side. Also it should be expected for the muzzle to climb especially with smaller shooters. I'm all for having youngsters shoot but not a full auto 9 MM? How about one round at a time to start, then maybe two rounds? Maybe start with a .22 caliber?

The instructor seemed to be very attentive to the shooter, just a very sad day for all...

[Keith B]

That poor girl will definately need counseling. Very sad situation.

From teh video clip, it looks when she started firing full-auto her left hand lost grip and the gun started swinging left and up from the rise. Being it was a very short frame (Uzi) it probably rose right across his face due to her short stature and him looking over her.

[philip964]

The anti gunners have it all over facebook this morning.

[Jim Beaux]

Watching how attentive the instructor was makes his death even harder.

In my line of work when we have an accident we do a "lessons learned" review. The review is not to cast blame, but to learn.

Using tools involves a certain degree of risk. Mistakes will happen. Job one is to try to mitigate the risk.

First, we cant see the entire video so we dont know what happened. ie was there a stumble, dropped weapon, etc. - We also dont know how the instructor prepared the girl before the video. He may have covered all the fundamentals correctly.

The above posters who suggest loading only 1 or 2 rounds to acclimate the shooter are right on target. If that were the case in this incident we wouldnt be having this discussion.

The things I suggest are:

Spend more time working on the girl's stance. When I have a new shooter (Im not an instructor) I place my hand on their chest and shove them backwards. I then tell them to take a stance where I cant push them off balance & shove them again until they get it.

I would have also worked more on the grip. I would explain the actions of the weapon. (watch the slide, watch the side flash on a revolver, etc.) On recoil I have seen new shooters react by including the trigger finger when tightening their grip. I think that was the case here. The little girl just squeezed with everything and tried to hang on. She was taken by surprise.

It was hard to see, but I believe I saw the instructor's hand underneath, supporting the weapon. When the muzzled climbed his hand was not in position to counter.

Im sure many here saw more than what I did, but this is an opportunity for us to conduct a lessons learned review.

[CoffeeNut]

Tragic situation but again it is disappointing to see people handing weapons to people who just can't physically handle them. There are too many videos of full grown adults on YouTube injuring themselves by using firearms that are far too powerful for their physical abilities so it's no surprise that a little girl can't handle full-auto recoil. If you want to let someone have fun with an automatic then get them in the prone and give them a more stable weapon.

From what I have read the little girl couldn't handle the recoil and the UZI recoiled up and over her head and got the instructor.

[gthaustex]

Tragic. My thoughts and prayers are with all involved. My daughters both shoot, but they worked their way up, starting with a bolt action .22, learning the ins and outs....

[n5wd]

Tragic situation but again it is disappointing to see people handing weapons to people who just can't physically handle them. There are too many videos of full grown adults on YouTube injuring themselves by using firearms that are far too powerful for their physical abilities so it's no surprise that a little girl can't handle full-auto recoil. If you want to let someone have fun with an automatic then get them in the prone and give them a more stable weapon.

From what I have read the little girl couldn't handle the recoil and the UZI recoiled up and over her head and got the instructor.

I have had the opportunity to fire an Uzi full-auto and have had, if not a difficult time handling the recoil, then a challenging time. Your right hand tends to act as a pivot point and if you're not really prepared, it can definitely catch you off guard and get away from you.

As others have said, it's a sad situation. Personally, I'm thinking that 9 year olds aren't generally ready for full tilt boogie guns.

[Charles L. Cotton]

Every accidental shooting is a tragedy, but this one really tears me up. It's bad enough that a man who obviously liked working with kids died, but that poor girl will be blaming herself for something that wasn't her fault. I hope she has a strong faith in God; without it I don't know how she'll cope.

Chas.