Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Charley Vacca's Kids Launch a Petition to Ask for the Obvious

Charlie Vacca’s children: Tyler, 15, Christopher, 12, Ellie, 16, and Ashley, 20.
 Charlie Vacca’s children: Tyler, 15, Christopher, 12, Ellie, 16, and Ashley, 20.

Guns dot com

One year ago an Arizona firearms instructor was killed when a 9-year-old girl lost control of a fully automatic uzi she was firing and on the anniversary of the incident, the instructor’s kids are asking for a law to prevent children from shooting such weapons.

Charlie Vacca’s children — Christopher, 12, Tyler, 15, Ellie, 16, and Ashley, 20 — launched the online petition “Kids and Machine Guns Don’t Mix.”

“We’re the children of Charlie Vacca. Last year, a nine-year-old lost control of an Uzi on an Arizona shooting range and our dad lost his life. It’s time for a change,” reads the petition.

The 39-year-old Vacca was assisting a the young girl at an Arizona shooting range when the young girl lost control of an uzi on Aug. 25, 2014.

Video of the incident, which was caught on a cell phone camera by the girl’s parents, shows machine gun drift up as the girl shoots. The muzzle points up and at that point Vacca, who is standing beside her, is shot in the head.

36 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Yeah, Kurt, lying gun rights fanatics, like you, who tell us it's ok for little 9-year-old girls to fire maching guns as long as there's adult supervision. You know it's not but you insist on it anyway.

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    2. Oh, OK--just your colon overflowing again (still?). I should have known.

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    3. What? Do you deny what I said?

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    4. Do you deny what I said?

      Well, I don't remember telling you that "it's ok for little 9-year-old girls to fire [machine] guns as long as there's adult supervision," although I do know that competent supervision would have made the activity perfectly safe.

      So yeah, I'm feeling pretty confident in asserting that you have so far utterly failed to point to any evidence of "filthy lying gun rights fanatics." False accusations of lying are, of course, quite a specialty of yours.

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    5. You, as well as the owners of this particular shooting range, and millions of others fanatics claim this activity is OK. You know better, but you'll be damned rather than give in even this much to common sense and decency. You are lying gun rights fanatics.

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    6. You, as well as the owners of this particular shooting range, and millions of others fanatics claim this activity is OK.

      I'm absolutely positive that when supervised competently, it is far more than merely "OK."

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  2. With all due respect for the kids, the accident is on their late father. He was a professional firearms instructor, which means part of his job is to spot potential safety issues and take measures to control them.
    If the girl couldn't hold the machine pistol securely enough to fire safely, he should have said no.

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    Replies
    1. Several problems here.

      First, the vast majority of so-called 'professional firearms instructors' aren't. They are hobbyists with a gun fetish and an NRA certificate which is worthless.

      Second, if Vacca refused the kid, the owner of the range would have just found someone who would say yes.

      So....we have a few problems here. When profit motive meets low standards, it eventually means sacrificing safety.

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    2. "They are hobbyists with a gun fetish and an NRA certificate which is worthless."

      Well Jade, we've discussed this before. What it boils down to is that YOU think an NRA certificate is worthless for whatever reason you might have, though I suspect it has something to do with the three letters before the instructor.

      "Second, if Vacca refused the kid, the owner of the range would have just found someone who would say yes."

      Or the owner would have backed up his instructor if he felt it wasn't safe. It being near Vegas, I imagine they've likely had the occasional intoxicated person show up to shoot and told not today.


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    3. If Vacca refused he would be alive. If the range owner assigned that task to someone else things might have been better if handled differently. If all the instructers had refused the there would have been no issue at all.

      From the gist of your post, it sounds as tho your putting the blame and responsibility on the range owner.

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    4. At the time SS, you thought it was perfectly fine to teach a 9 year old how to shoot such a gun., And no blame for the parents who were standing right there filming the kill shot?

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    5. "At the time SS, you thought it was perfectly fine to teach a 9 year old how to shoot such a gun"

      Yep Anon, I did. I also believe that I mentioned that I didn't consider it to be a real lesson, but rather a recreational event under the supervision of the instructor.
      As for the parents, this article isn't about them, though I imagine that are and will continue to live every day wishing they hadn't let her try that. But at the end of the day, Mr. Vacca was the knowledgeable adult who was responsible for making the decision as to what is safe, and what isn't. And it was his decision to go ahead.

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    6. Yep, no blame for the idiotic parents because you believe they did nothing wrong, which just proves what an idiot about guns you are.
      Simple: The girl was to small to physically handle the gun.
      The gun loons (who claim to be the experts) not only did not take that in to consideration, but their dangerous gun loon attitude, allowed them to not even consider it. So you blame the instructor! Who gave permission for the girl to take the lesson? More cover up from SS for gun loon idiot criminals. But the article isn't about them? Going off topic has never stopped you before, but I understand it's convenient for you to not want to hold the responsible party (the parents) accountable. Typical for dangerous gun loons to evade responsibility.

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    7. Gun rights fanatics, stubborn as the day is long, claim this activity is OK, Everyone knows better.

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    8. But now you say, "If the girl couldn't hold the machine pistol securely enough to fire safely, he should have said no."
      Just your typical hypocritical lying crap.

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    9. Mike has recently posted a video of a young girl quite competently handling firearms.

      http://usliberals.about.com/od/Election2012Factors/a/Gun-Owners-As-Percentage-Of-Each-States-Population.htm

      She seems to do just fine.

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    10. Rats, that's frustrating, wrong link. Here you go Anon,

      http://mikeb302000.blogspot.com/2014/12/new-jersey-10-year-old-shooting-star.html

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    11. ss, I can't believe you're being difficult about this.Some kids are too young to be handling certain guns, period, that 10-year-old shooting star notwithstanding.

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    12. Mike, the only difference between Ms. Roberts and the girl in the Charley Vacca story is competent training.

      "This is not out of the ordinary, until you find out she’s ten years old! This young lady began enjoying the sport of target shooting at the age of five under the close supervision of her father and certified firearms instructor Dan Roberts.
      She first engaged in sanctioned matches at the age of seven across a wide variety of disciplines participating in events throughout the Southern New Jersey Area, including IDPA, Three Gun, Action Rifle, and Steel Silhouette."

      http://shyanneroberts.com/shyanne-roberts-tom-boy-diva/


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    13. Some kids are too young to be handling certain guns, period, that 10-year-old shooting star notwithstanding.

      So, rather than a blanket prohibition, you support a case-by-case approach, based on the young shooter's proficiency?

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    14. Right. So there shouldn't be a blanket restriction based on age. It should be a case by case evaluation.

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    15. It's nice SS has such a hypocritical stance on this, it proves his constant hypocrisy on gun issues.
      Nice of these gun loons to attack the children of the dead man. Their dad was facilitating the demand of the girls idiot parents. A stupid, dangerous demand..

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    16. Anon, I don't recall saying much about mr. Vacca's children. Not seeing where I attacked them. And as I said before, no matter what the parents wanted, Mr. Vacca was a grown man and responsible for his actions.
      As the "instructor" present at the range, if it wasn't safe for the girl to shoot based on his observations, then he should have stopped it. That was his job. While it's a shame that he was killed, it was his responsibility.

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    17. "With all due respect for the kids......"
      That's ALWAYS a backhanded comment to disrespect.
      Nothing less than an attack on the children just trying anything to stop further needless gun shot deaths.
      Enjoy yourself.

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    18. Just like your little girl crying on your hip, yet, you continue to force her.

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    19. Anon, She has never cried around firearms and I've never forced her to shoot. In fact she has decided that she currently prefers archery, so I'm teaching her that. She's always welcome to revisit firearms if she wishes to though.
      As I had said before, she isn't a happy camper in the photo because at the time I told her she wasn't ready to shoot a handgun. So your assertion is the opposite from the truth.

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    20. Your picture shows otherwise, now back to your attacking a dead man's children.

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  3. "What it boils down to is that YOU think an NRA certificate is worthless for whatever reason you might have, though I suspect it has something to do with the three letters before the instructor."

    You know it as well as I do. You probably read the gunloon boards and its not unusual for some gunloon to post a message that he needs to get, say, an RSO cert but that he needs it right away. There will no shortage of 'instructors' who will offer an abbreviated course. There are no standards.

    "Or the owner would have backed up his instructor if he felt it wasn't safe. It being near Vegas, I imagine they've likely had the occasional intoxicated person show up to shoot and told not today."

    I'll bet not. Look, the owner is looking for profit as evidenced by the fact that a child was allowed to handle an uzi. Even amusement parks will specify kids not meeting a certain height/age requirement can't ride certain rides.

    Have you ever been to LV? Free drinks or cheap booze everywhere--the business model for this range takes this into account. A bunch a guys get liquored up, tired of the clubs and casinos decide to fire machine guns in the desert. That's their primary market.

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    1. Where are all the stories of drunk people shooting themselves or others with machine guns near Vegas then? Either it's not happening, or it's happening all the time but it's not so dangerous. So which is it?

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    2. "There will no shortage of 'instructors' who will offer an abbreviated course. There are no standards."

      In this case Jade, your dislike of NRA instructors isn't really germane, since Mr. Vacca doesn't appear to have been an NRA certified instructor,

      "There is no requirement in Arizona for gun range employees to be certified as firearms instructors. The National Rifle Association said Charles Vacca was not an NRA certified instructor."

      http://www.cbsnews.com/news/accidental-uzi-death-were-proper-safety-protocols-followed-by-instructor-charles-vacca/

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    3. Jade,

      Here is a good instance of NRA firearm instructors at work.

      The National Rifle Association has been instructing Indiana's "National Guard members on how to use concealed weapons after Republican Gov. Mike Pence directed the state's military bases and training centers to beef up security in response to recent attacks in Tennessee."

      "According to a survey by The Associated Press, Indiana is the only state to enlist the NRA's help in the training, which the gun-rights group says it will conduct free of charge for any guardsman who wants to carry a concealed handgun."

      http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-indiana-enlists-nra-train-guard-firearms-183422003.html;_ylt=AwrC0Ca0meBVRwYAL2_QtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBybGY3bmpvBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMyBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--

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    4. "Either it's not happening, or it's happening all the time but it's not so dangerous."

      How about the occasional fuck-up of this magnitude is too often. It is happening - not "all the time" - but TOO OFTEN.

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    5. Jade was claiming these machine gun shoot places tailor to drunk Vegas people- so much so that it's their "primary market". There are zero cases of drunk people having accidents at machine gun shoots. I'm pretty sure this 9-year old girl wasn't drunk.

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  4. Moment of honesty. Seeing that idiot get his head blown off by a little girl was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. So I'm a sick puppie. Of course it is an injustice to his children. Sounds like OSHA in Arizona really fell down on the job to me. Even their safety report after the fact was just another endorsement of this criminal lunacy. Criminal stupidity.

    Here it is. Why not bolt the automatic weapon to a secure beam and limit the travel of the barrel? Like they used to do with BB guns at the amusement arcade where we shot duck decoys. Wouldn't that be exciting enough for the little thrillseekers? There are probably plenty of men, women and youth who would prefer some type of failsafe as well.

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  5. Jadegold,

    Nobody in their right mind, unless they were a foreign or non-native tourist would go to Las Vegas. Are you kidding? Life is too short. Money is in short supply. Why would any thinking individual go to Las Vegas? Save your money up to go to France. Again, are you kidding? What the fuck kind of vacation is that? How about Bryce, Zion or Yellowstone? Maybe in the 1950s. This is the crotch of America. Legalized gambling and prostitution. It's a fucking hell-hole. No way I would ever set foot in Nevada, let alone Las Vegas.

    I was about to say this shooting range was in Arizona, but I got carried away. Yes, I would rather live out my days in Arizona than in the asshole of America.

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