ALJACOBSLADDER.com     

TRAGEDY STRIKES AGAIN                                                     

I am a webmeister, photographer, writer, a political junkie, and consumer advocate in the Tampa Bay area. I write a lot and  there are no sacred cows. Wrongs need to be brought to the surface and that includes those by greedy corrupt politicians, fake religious God partners, bad restaurants, corporate scamming and other lowlife’s.  To keep a balance I also write about good people, those who try to make a difference in someones life.  But nothing hurts me more than to hear of accidents that could have been avoided and are mortal to our children. 

I have had an affinity toward firearms, sport shooting and varmint hunting in my earlier life, trained in the military in all forms of small arms, couple days of sniper training , and a competition shooter, but it stops there. In fact it stopped when the NRA stopped being a sportsman’s club and became a political tool, and the propaganda wing of the Gun Lobby.  After the first five or six outright lies, I felt their direction was wrong. I didn’t send them anymore checks.

I am a strong advocate of Gun Safety,  twice over being an instructor and Range Officer in two disciplines and I also believe in a sensible 2nd Amendment,  which is freedom of ownership, the shooting sports for clean competition and hunting, and a love of country and neighbor.

What I don’t buy is sheer lunacy in the paranoia statements issued by the NRA to drive gun sales. And the ridiculous threats of the government taking guns away, black helicopters and jack-booted foreign soldiers on our soil.

It’s a social issue, the guns are not the problems, as the expression goes, it’s the idiot behind the wheel, the finger on the trigger, and gross neglect.  Weapons don’t have brains, children don't know consequence, and neither do some of the parents. They don’t “go off” of their own accord.

Responsible people do not “forget”.   In the days before the NRA went total political there was emphasis on classes and training as their forefront to hunting and the shooting sports. And we pounded safety, we pounded it in classes and at the range.  That’s why I joined and became an R.O and worked in the industry.  Now they are political.

THE GUN SHOW LOOPHOLE
Not the same group of people today as their was in the past. The economy, the media has fanned the flames. I do not like more laws as much as you do. But compromise is a good word and a few small controls worded correctly would both satisfy both sides. There are loopholes, there are procedures that need to be in place.   I see violations all the time at gun shows from those working the dark side.  

At one show I had my AR-15 on my shoulder, I was looking for accessories not looking to sell, pics on the web or magazines don’t really tell you fit and finish. And I got hit five times from the parking lot to the front door if I was willing to sell for cash on the spot.  One idiot waving 800 dollars in my face.   

None were dealers, at least ten more times inside the arena.  No trail, no paperwork and my name would be first on the list if it was ever used maliciously.  It’s not always the unregistered dealer in arms, sometimes its someone not thinking of consequence if it was a weapon registered to them.  You don’t want a knock on the door, right or wrong.

And maybe there is a simple solution. And it’s not rocket scientist work.  Someone wrote a simple form, a Sale Of Rights,  type document to alleviate the Non-FFL selling of a gun to protect the seller and the buyer if they are not a FFL holder.  You should be doing this anyway to prove ownership.  If the other person won’t comply, pass, you don’t want to be on the hook.  

If you own a legally purchased weapon and thinking of selling it free hand at a gun show.  This is not wise. If it does get into the hands of someone who used it in a bad way  you will have a visitor and before you have that visitor they will of run a complete background on you and those inquires show up on credit reports.  

Similar to the bill when they wanted transactions only by FFL holders.  It might be as simple as a form, drivers license via cellphone capture and a notary or any legal witness registrant, and a five dollar fee.  I’m not against selling or buying a weapon privately but those on the dark side don’t care.  Fill it out, drop at any Police Department and you are covered if it had ever been used in the committal of a crime.   This law would not need that much enforcement as the onus is placed on the last legal owner.

One caveat I have is that 2nd amendment rights should have an additional few words added to the amendment or added at the state level.  Requirements basically are in effect now, but I want them enforced. They are simple you must be a law-abiding, qualified by training or testing, American Citizen in full context with no temporary passes within your state.  I witnessed test shooting from one of the “Get your concealed carry permit today” and got to admit at five feet they did hit the target, albeit somewhere, but they hit it…you write the rest…

WHEN CHILDREN DIE
When children die from a  gunshot there is one commonality. That child did not walk into a Firearms Dealer or Store, present his Mickey Mouse Club Membership card and purchase a weapon with marbles.  Someone had a hand in ending this child’s life or his siblings life due to neglectful actions by an adult. Blame it on ….

Parental Stupidity - Ignorance of gun safety , placement, under lock and key,  access to children etc.  Some people have acquired guns with no training, nor a knowledge of laws pertaining to their weapon.

Another problem is Genetics - Parents who want children to be just like Dad, only Dads never truly embraced safety.  Mentions it once goes to the range, and forgets everything.  Most likely he is the same party teaching his children guns are macho, manly and so forth. 

A real culprit is the Media, Television, Computer Games, and Real War. - Another problem is the media exposure.  The news media doesn’t do enough to promote gun safety, the TV has entertainment shows are mostly shooting and violence and lets face it we live in a country with 340 million people and about two guns for everyone. Having an ongoing war for 13 years certainly qualifies as one of the main endorsers of violence.

And number one on my hit list are computer games where you reboot and re-life certainly sends a bad message. Dead kids don’t get up for another round.

DON’T BLAME THE GUNS, BLAME THE ADULTS
Today and this is the week of 5/22/2016 my paper tells me this week alone two children in separate accidents under the age of six managed to find loaded guns in their home left unlocked, unguarded and the children  killed themselves. One was four and one was five.

APRIL 2016 - Another unsecured loaded gun found it’s way into the hands of a five year old boy who shot his 4 year old sister to death.  State laws will dictate trial of the parent under neglect and the accessible gun laws.  Regardless it won’t bring back the child.

Gun safety is the key here, innocent children, injured or killed by ignorance, negligence, thoughtlessness and stupidity of their parents, you can say it wasn’t intentional.   But it was neglectful and culpable.  I have a kind heart for a couple who have lost a child,  but not a forgiving heart for their stupidity.

It’s been a tough few years with all the shootings that have taken place. It’s sad when politics take over the sporting industry.  Don’t blame the guns.  But we will eventually have to do something about who can pull the trigger.  Good honest folks don’t fall for some of the rhetoric out there.  

I hope no one ever again gets the phone call from school that there was a shooting and your child was injured or worse, it’s a game changer.  But if we all agree to better legislation and take the politics out, with the right to bear arms not infringed upon… that would be a giant step.

NOVEMBER 2013 - A nine year old was arrested by local police in my town in the Tampa Bay area when the bus driver saw a gun in this kids pocket and radioed law enforcement.  It was a two shot Derringer in a 45 plus caliber, a common back up pocket weapon commonly carried in bear country.  Had he fired it the results would have been devastating.  The kid went to juvenile hall and under Florida law the parent(s) will be charged.  By rights the child can even be taken away from the parents.

This article contains information gleaned from the front pages of the newspapers, some research on my behalf and a desire to get the truth out because those with interests (people who make money from this endeavor) try to lighten or assimilate the tragedy.  the NRA will tell you these are isolated incidents.  

IDIOTS OF THE MONTH AWARD WINNERS
Three months ago,  the very pretty and not so bright Jamie Gilt,  31, a mother, self adored model, actress, story teller high-profile pro-gun activist,  whatever was shot in the back by her four year old boy after grandstanding probably looking for some publicity from the NRA.  

Struck me she was suffering from Palinosis, the Sarah Palin disease. Also known as MBMS…Mouth Before Mental Strength.   A real gun advocate,  she bragged about she’s teaching her 4 year old how to shoot.  It appears she never graduated the four year old course on being a good mother.

Jamie posts about firearms on her social media accounts while driving through Putnam County, Jacksonville, Florida, on Tuesday.  She was shot in the back by her four-year-old son after he found her pistol lying on the back seat of her truck just 24 hours after she boasted about his shooting skills online.   This true, he hit the target at almost two feet.

It came just a day after she said the youngster would get ‘ Jacked up' before a shooting practice on a page dedicated to her musings on Second Amendment rights.  On the profile Jamie Gilt for Gun Sense she wrote: ‘ 

Even my 4 year old gets jacked up to target shoot with the .22'.  She reportedly believes she has the right to shoot anyone who threatens her family - and plans to teach her offspring the same mentality.   

I can see it now  “The Terror of the Kindergarten” on the HBO channel.  Watch a five year old settle disputes over who gets the sandbox!

She placed the youth in a carrier in the backseat with a loaded gun accessible to him…he shot her in the back. Mom might see some time when she recovers. Had the bullet struck the spine, she might never recover, she is very lucky.  

Jamie is expected to face a misdemeanor charge of allowing a minor access to a firearm, authorities said Tuesday.  The Putnam County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday filed an affidavit with local prosecutors asking that Gilt be charged with the second-degree misdemeanor, which carries a penalty of up to 180 days in jail, Capt. Gator DeLoach told reporters.

DeLoach said the sheriff’s office supports the rights of citizens to own and possess firearms but gun owners have the “ Additional responsibility of ensuring children do not gain unintended access to a firearm in hopes of preventing tragedies like this."

And not to say she’s an angel…  In 2013, Jamie Gilt, 30, was arrested by Jacksonville Sheriff's Department on April 4, 2013 after she was detained by security guards at Dillard's department store in the town. The prominent gun rights activist was spotted stuffing children’s clothes into her purse and hiding the bag in the child's stroller. 

She was arrested by Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department and charged with a felony count Grand Theft Retail.  Officers released her on a bond of $2,503 pending a court hearing.  According to her arrest report: 'The suspect entered the Juniors department of Dillard, selected several clothing items and concealed them in the purse she was carrying. 

'The suspect then placed her purse in the stroller she was pushing and then attempted to exit the store without paying in an attempt to appropriate the property as her own. ‘The suspect was detained by loss protection personnel and the property, totaling $455 was recovered.  'The suspect was arrested on the above charge and transported to the Duval County Jail.' 

And as if stupidity can’t happen again…

APRIL 27, 2016 
One day after Patrice Price was accidentally shot to death by her 2-year-old son while driving, her friends and family gathered to remember her as a woman who loved her children. "She loved shopping, she loved dancing, she loved her kids. She loved looking fabulous," said her sister, Cherneice Stewart.

The 26-year-old Milwaukee woman was driving her boyfriend's car when a gun slid out from under the driver's seat and her 2-year-old son picked it up and fired it from the back seat. The bullet went through the driver's seat and hit Price in the back as she drove south on Highway 175 near W. Vliet St. about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Adding to the tragedy was the fact Price had borrowed a car from her boyfriend, a security guard, because hers had been stolen four days earlier. When her car was stolen, the car seats for her sons — the 2-year-old and a 1-year-old — were also stolen, said Stewart.

TRUTH - A HARD THING TO FIND - THESE ARE FACTS
The first step for a writer or anyone communicating about a subject is find the truth.  Probably no where is this more contradictory than in the halls of Congress where truth is as hard to find as a good Pastrami sandwich. Tons of data are available and 90%  is thrown out because it depends on who did the survey.   

And, just like politics, no different,  everything is always slanted.  And our politics are in a race to see who tumbles first, our candidate and that Leaning Tower in Italy. They are planning a fix on the tower by inserting concrete underground and I suggested thats precisely what we need for a few politicians.  Concrete and underground.

Interesting to note how our politicians when confronting a shooting tragedy like to tell us about the laws already existing on the books, which they themselves rarely ever support with monies for better mental health, community support, training, enforcement, etc.  What do we actually know?   

• The first thing to know is that violent crime of all types is down. In the United States, there are half as many gun homicides (those who died) today as there were in 1997. 
• And here is another statistic which unfortunately is true, and that is Black people are killed by guns at twice the rate of white people, and more than twice the rate of Latinos. 
• There are theories for this decrease involving psychology, evolution, and criminology.  
• More and better, sometimes more aggressive, too aggressive policing has helped.
• New technology like cell phones make it easier for people to get help when they’re shot.
• Easier for police to track criminals.
• Easier for emergency room doctors to more effectively treat gunshot wounds.  
• The decline in the use of lead, which, it seems, effects the brains of people who grow up with it in their walls, probably helped too. 
• A large majority of Americans support specific gun control measures, like federal tracking of gun sales, when asked.
• But most Americans don't think gun laws make much of a difference, anyway.
• And half see the right to bear arms as being under threat now. This number has been growing steadily, according to a Washington Post analysis of the data.  
• And 57 percent of Americans think that stricter gun laws would empower the federal government to a dangerous degree.
• Ideological polarization has increased; more Republicans now oppose gun laws, while the percentage of Democrats who feel one way or the other has stayed relatively constant.
• Guns are everywhere. There are 300 million of them in circulation in America, which translates to about 88 guns for every 100 people. 
• Unless Americans are naturally more violent than Europeans and Australians, the presence of so many guns is the main reason why, despite the decline in gun violence, America remains so much more violent than other countries with high standards of living.
• The U.S. accounts for 87 percent of the world’s gun death rate for children under 14.
• One percent are mass shootings versus gang/drug violence or domestic violence situations.
• One half percent related to Terrorism.
• The plurality of gun deaths are suicides.
• Living in a household with guns makes it far more likely that you’ll become a victim. 
• Accidentally killing someone else with a gun accounts for a little less than two percent of all gun deaths each year.
• The mentally ill committed, at most, five percent of all gun homicides each year.

THE SYSTEM
An article by Think Progress, notes that 2.4 million fugitives, felons, and domestic violence perpetrators were stopped by background checks from purchasing weapons between 1994 and 2012.    

However, the Government Accountability Office found that 1,300 people whose potential connections to terrorism were deep enough to get them on watch lists were able to buy guns; 90 percent passed the FBI background check.  San Bernardino only had two shooters and guns were basically a straw purchase by a third party.  Also and this has not been confirmed the sears which possibly made them full auto had been tampered with or a rapid fire kit installed.

That bothers me and it should bother you.  It is another one of those totally stupid remarks our politicians who fear someone on a watch list might be denied his rights under the second amendment.  

Our government is not shy when it comes to making mistakes, rarely do they apologize to anyone.  The IRS makes mistakes all the time, stop and frisk does it all the time, and so forth, but election time, if you follow the money,  they are all firm supporters of the NRA gun lobby awaiting their checks and blow you off if you ask them.

THE ARGUMENT OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT
A brilliant and short article by Adam Winkler, Law professor at UCLA, in simplest terms, explainable and barren of insulting rhetoric, name calling, false accusations, fear of loss of guns and other how law sees the rights… It explains this in truth.

The “ second Amendment,” more than a right, has become a rhetorical device. It's a counterargument in two words, a rallying cry designed to end debate. Want to restrict firearms, or regulate their sale, or limit which kinds Americans can buy?

Meet the Second Amendment, the simplest rebuttal goes. It creates the unfettered right to own guns in America.  Full stop. This claim — prominent among gun-rights advocates — implies that the Second Amendment establishes not just a right to own guns, but a right that the government cannot legally limit. 

The problem with this argument: None of our rights work this way.

"The Supreme Court has said repeatedly that no right under the Constitution is absolute," says Adam Winkler, a law professor at UCLA and the author of "Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America. “ In general, where the government has very strong reasons to restrict a right, it can."

Take the First Amendment right to free speech, which sounds pretty ironclad that “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech". In the most  famous example of what Winkler is talking about, the Supreme Court has said the First Amendment doesn't protect your right to shout "fire!" in a crowded theater that is not, in fact, on fire. 

You can’t say whatever you want, wherever you want, in other words, if what you want to say might cause a riot endangering public safety.   Also, about those air-tight free-speech rights: You can’t just libel people willy-nilly, or incite murder, or leak government secrets, or distribute child pornography, or say certain words on TV, or pass out political pamphlets wherever you want.  And that’s just one right contained in the First Amendment.  "Just pick your right," Winkler says.

The Fourth Amendment says you have a right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. But you still have to go through security at airports. You can still be stopped at a drunk-driving checkpoint.

Your Right: Private Property? The government can still take it from you under eminent domain. 

Your Right: of Freedom of Religion? That doesn’t mean a government clerk can deny same-sex couples marriage licenses, or that a baker can refuse to sell those couples wedding cakes.

Your Right: Freedom From Racial Discrimination. But, for example, if a race riot breaks out in a state prison, the government can separate inmates by race to try to quell the violence.

"Same thing with gun rights," Winkler says. "We already restrict access to firearms in many ways. We prohibit people from owning machine guns. We prohibit people from owning shoulder-launched missiles and hand grenades. We prohibit felons and the mentally ill from possessing firearms. We prevent children from owning firearms.”

The Supreme Court declined to review local laws that prohibit certain kinds of weapons like semiautomatic guns. Those laws draw limits around the right to bear arms.  The Second Amendment in effect is no more absolute than any of our other rights, and yet a vocal camp in our public debates often describes it that way.

“We see a lot more absolutist rhetoric today than we did in the past," Winkler says, "partly because we have over the last 40 years seen the rise of a rather extreme pro-gun movement, led by the NRA."  We can still argue about semiautomatic weapons bans and universal background checks and whether such policies would curb gun violence. But citing "the Second Amendment!" by itself in those debates isn't a valid argument for shutting them down.

SAN BERNARDINO
You will never experience the pain if something you sold went to someone who caused a tragedy such as the two AR-15’s sold to the pair in the latest terror attack.  It has been reported but not confirmed since it is an investigation still in progress, the two weapons purchased in 2007 had a little extraneous sear work done on them making them full auto, a relatively simple procedure.

If the seller was the only one with these two AR’s other than the two terrorists who are dead, guess who is in a world of bovine excrement now.  When the news hit, he checked himself into a mental rehab center, clever dodge so he can claim mental illness, but I don’t think it will work when the government gets going.  He has since been arrested  with two other family members on other charges.  BUT I want a record of it somewhere and the only three kinds of people fearing the paperwork on a transfer are:

• Criminals or those unable to own a firearm 
• People who believe in the paranoia spread by some organizations mainly the NRA to raise money 
• Those involved in “gun running".  The transfer process would put the middle man out of business. 

DISPELLING RUMORS

The government doesn’t want to take your guns away. Thats the biggie rumor that causes the paranoia to simple minds and conspiratorialists who gain from these statements.   The gun manufacturers , the gun lobbyists, the NRA , Gun Stores, just follow the money and it’s huge.

FACT:   Paying Sarah Palin to speak at your rally is really dumb and your money paid for it.

FACT:  The only black helicopters over head are on mosquito control in our county.

FACT:  The jack-booted foreign soldiers on our soil are not in numbers as threatened by the NRA.  I am at Ft. Benning frequently for the past thirty years and CentCom at MacDill AFB where we have 64 coalition nations training with us,  I see a lot and it’s all about training and coalition and they don’t wear jack boots.   At Ft. Benning we have the “School Of The Americas” for training with our South and Central American friends to work with us on stability and drug control lately the biggest problem.

MY SOLUTION:
I would appreciate if the NRA would show some compassion for the men, women and children killed in these tragedy’s and back down on their radical and in most cases woefully inaccurate statements to fill their coffers.   I would rather see them donating all that scam money they collect and the millions from the Gun Manufacturers to education of firearms and some aid to the families who were killed by their preemptive rhetoric and lies.

By the way a large percentage of your money goes into politics.   Not to save hunting rights , flyway preservation, more safety classes, hunting lands, sports events, competition, for the good of all.  It winds up in politicians hands and we all know most of them are crooks. 

So your funding is keeping your elected representatives in “full bribery”.   Support your congressman most won’t contribute so they get it anyways.   Lets put that money into safety, conservation, shooting sports and not into the hands of crooks. Think, just think if Congress has a ten percent approval rate, what kind of a job have they been doing…

Follow The Money - NRA Profile for 2014 Election Cycle
NOTE: Figures on this page include contributions and spending by affiliates of this organization.

CONTRIBUTIONS           $984,152
LOBBYING                       $3,360,000 (2014)                             $3,410,000 (2013)
OUTSIDE SPENDING     $28,212,718   MEMBERS INVESTED 0 

TWO SISTERS - ONE GUN - LEFT ONE SISTER
REAL LIFE TRAGEDY at 15 - Ms. Saylor Martine, of Oklahoma, fifteen, died after she was shot in the head while toying with a firearm.  She was with her sister.  The culprit, according to the police, a semi-auto owned by her parents. It was purchased by Mom for her own protection.  So the story goes, she and her sister had been handling the gun when they placed it down on a counter, where it discharged.  



No one believes the gun went off by itself, and fifty years in this game and I haven’t seen one go off by itself except in a fire. But I’m sure there is enough grief to go around, and the Sheriff is hesitant is doing anything about it.  An accident means no one is charged, especially the only one who knows the truth. The sister or possibly the mother, but a child is dead and someone was negligent.  The mother should be charged, and the child will have to live with it.

UZZI CLAIMS  - 8-year-old Christopher Bizilj
A family man goes to a gun show in his small New England town of Westfield, MA with his son and a camera. It was co-sponsored by the local traffic ticketing Sheriff who had a financial consideration (sponsor and partner) in the show.  See picture of this A-Hole below.  With an “Instructor” watching, determined to be uncertified, not old enough, the son of one of the sponsors, recently recruited, 14 year old,  the 8-year-old boy at the gun fair aimed a full auto Uzi submachine gun at a pumpkin and pulled the trigger as his dad reached for a camera. 

It was his first time shooting a fully automatic gun, and anyone who has ever fired an UZI or Scorpion or Scepter know these things have the muzzle rise of an ATLAS rocket for the untrained.

It was too much for the 8-year old boy, simply the weapon had too much muzzle rise for him and literally shot his head off with Dad in the beginning proudly filming this important event in his child’s life.  No one got charged.  

Now gun safety experts — and some gun enthusiasts at the club where the shooting happened — are wondering why such a young child was allowed, permitted, in the same range, in the same field, at the same gun range to fire a full auto weapon used in war.

Simple, follow the money.   Money, a gun show, lots of vendors showing their wares, you don’t have to be an idiot to figure that one out.  And the sheriff put it together.  Local, state and federal authorities are also investigating whether everyone involved had proper licenses or if anyone committed a criminal act.  Well there’s the hangup. Most prosecutors are elected or appointed officials and the lobbies are very powerful.   We predict nothing will come of it.

More on this story and the conclusion:  Http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/14/massachusetts.gun.show.verdict/index.html

During the gun show,  was firing the micro Uzi when he accidentally shot himself in the head. He died instantly.  At the trial, upon hearing the verdict, Fleury broke into tears. He later hugged his wife and spoke to reporters outside the courtroom, offering his condolences to the Bizilj family.

"This was meant to be an educational event for people and unfortunately this terrible accident happened," Fleury said, his voice heavy with emotion. "And I do want to express my heartfelt sympathy to the Bizilj family and their friends for this terrible accident.”  Christopher's father, Charles Bizilj, was present at the time of the shooting and videotaped the entire incident. Parts of that tape were shown to the jury, which also heard emotional testimony from the father. The trial lasted 10 days.

"I ran over to him. His eyes were open and I saw no reason for him to be on the ground. And I tried to talk to him and he didn't respond. I put my hand behind his head to try to pick him up and there was a large portion of his cranium missing. And I put my hand against the back of his head," Charles Bizilj told members of the Hampden County jury.

Fleury faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter and up to 10 years for each count of furnishing a machine gun to a minor. His lawyer, Rosemary Scapicchio, had argued that while Fleury helped organize the show, he wasn't directly responsible and hadn't actually given guns to the children there.

Carl Giuffre and Domenico Spano have also been charged in connection with the incident. The two were in charge of the show's shooting range and are accused of having provided the Uzi that killed Christopher Bizilj. Prosecutor William Bennett said he will decide next week whether to proceed with the case against them, given Fleury's acquittal.

UZZI and 9 YEAR OLD KILLS INSTRUCTOR - Charles Vacca, 39
PHOENIX — The 9-year-old girl who accidentally shot and killed a firing range instructor with an Uzi last week told her mother immediately afterward that the gun was too powerful for her and that it had hurt her shoulder, according to a Mohave County Sheriff’s Office report released Tuesday.

The family huddled around the girl, fearing she was injured, and did not realize that instructor Charles Vacca, 39, was wounded until another employee ran over, according to the report. After realizing what had occurred, the girl's parents immediately removed her and their other two children from the property and brought them to the nearby restaurant so they wouldn't see what happened, the report states.

The New Jersey family had been vacationing in Las Vegas and on Aug. 25 was shuttled to Bullets and Burgers, the firing range at Last Chance property in White Hills, Ariz. The family had taken a ride on a monster truck before heading to the shooting range, according to the report.

The girl's father was the first to fire the weapon, a mini Uzi 9mm, and then the girl took her turn. With the girl's mother recording, Vacca showed the 9-year-old how to stand and shoot the gun, allowing her to fire a few rounds.

At this point Vacca switched the gun into its automatic setting, according to a deputy who would later view the mother's video.  "(The father) said all of a sudden he heard a lot of rounds fire and saw (his daughter) drop the gun to the ground," the report states.

Range instructor Ross Miller witnessed the incident, and told deputies that he saw the girl start to shoot the weapon, and the recoil sent it straight up into the air and "crossed the path where Charles had his head," the report stated. Employees immediately started applying pressure to Vacca's head wound and called 911.

Medical personnel arrived and stabilized Vacca before transporting him to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas via helicopter. Vacca passed away shortly thereafter, according to the report.

The girl's parents did not permit investigators to talk to their children because they were "going through a lot," the report states. The man said his family was in shock and they wanted to leave the area and return to Las Vegas, according to the report. The girl's mother allowed investigators to access the video on her cellphone.

Investigators collected evidence from the scene, including the firearm, the magazine and four live rounds. Deputies were instructed to retrieve copies of the release waivers signed by the family, but were told by employees that the waivers had blown away after the incident.   

News of Vacca's death sparked a national discussion on gun safety and whether there are ever enough safety precautions in place when an automatic weapon is in the hands of a child.  But prosecutors are not filing charges in the case. Because the mistake was made by the instructor who is dead.

MORE TRAGEDIES - AND ALL AVOIDABLE -

• In Kentucky, a five year old, just given a rifle, a sort of rite of passage in some families, left out in the open in a corner of the room, loaded and he proceeded to shoot his sister who was four.
  
  
• 3-year-old Jad Speights, accidentally shot and killed himself last month with his uncle’s handgun, which he found in a backpack.

  
  
• Jarvis Jackson (1) was accidentally shot and killed by a boy (4) last month after their baby sitter brought a handgun to the house for personal protection and then fell asleep after leaving the gun loaded and unsecured on the kitchen table.

  
  
• 4-year-old Cody Ryan Hall, who accidentally shot and killed himself in April with a family-owned handgun he found in an unlocked gun case.
  
  
• A six-year-old Toms River New Jersey boy accidentally shot by Brandon Holt, 4-year-old neighbor on Monday night, has died. Police said Holt was shot in the head by his friend after the younger boy went into his home on McCormick Avenue and somehow got his hands on a .22-caliber rifle. The boy found the rifle under a bed.  Police said the 4-year-old then went outside and accidentally shot the 6-year-old, who was sitting in a quad nearby.
  The boy’s father, Anthony Senatore, was arrested and charged.
 Five counts of second-degree child endangerment one count of third-degree child endangerment. Each second-degree count could potentially bring 5 to 10 years in prison, which means that if Senatore is convicted, he could theoretically face up to 50 years in prison. 
  
  
• Texas: Johnson County Austin McCord, “forgot he had a loaded magazine in the AK-47” when he pulled the trigger, shooting the girl in the stomach, on her 13th birthday, in a gun-cleaning accident, this imbecile must not watch much news.
  
  
• I guess the Dallas man who rushed his bloody grandson to the hospital pays more attention.  He is  fortunate as his 4-year-old grandson, who was visiting his home Wednesday, found a loaded handgun beneath a pillow. The little boy shot himself in the shoulder — but he’ll recover.

MY EXPERIENCE AS AN  R.O.
I am a IPSC RO and Firearms Instructor.  I was at a large area size match. And I got the honors to run with the club champ.  As an RO you would think this was some kind of good thing.  

Obviously I got it since no one else wanted  to run the local champ who was very popular with the club.  The RO is the safety net during match where there is movement simulating actual shooting scenarios.   I took a course,a test and qualified.  And I wasn’t afraid to DQ (Disqualify) if I saw a violation.  It was the job

As one transition from one set of targets to another took place the Champ took a reload since he took the last round and the slide was back.  He slammed a new clip in and the barrel of the pistol muzzle went over the safety berms.  I called a DQ, as this is cardinal rule one with the loaded and activated slide, aimed over the safety barriers.

And I caught a lot of flack, booed etc when I DQ’ed this local “A” shooter.  I explained to his friends that he did an over the horizon (berms) reload and slammed the slide forward.  His friends were appalled.  I got called names. I almost felt threatened. 

Being a real champion, obviously with more intelligence than his cohorts, he shook my hand and thanked me, he knew he had done a  wrong.  He was a class act.  He said to the imbecile following,  “ Boy, imagine had I done that in a National Competition”.  You can get lazy.  The Competitive IPSC and other groups, the real competitors heartily endorse and enforce gun safety and have a short tolerance for unsafe individuals. I feel safer on a sanctioned match than I would feel in some neighborhoods.

THE BASICS NEVER CHANGE - RULES OF THE ROAD

• Always expect that there is a live round in a weapon. 
• Never allow a weapon, loaded or otherwise, to be pointed at another person. 
• Don’t keep a loaded gun under the bed, or beneath a pillow, or in a drawer or any other place that a child is physically capable of touching it.
• Some states have  laws about gun storage, a few really severe. But they are not often enforced. It is illegal to keep a gun where a child may have access to it, unless it is disabled with a trigger lock or locked in a secure box or environment.
• Children die in accidental shootings because inattentive parents leave their guns lying around, with ammunition chambered, in unsecured places where untrained shooters can access them. 
• Only 27 states and Washington, D.C. have child access prevention laws on the books, and those laws vary. widely in scope and strength. It should be made universal, standardized, enforced, period.
• When it comes to gun safety, ignorance is negligence, and negligence is too often fatal.  In hunting observe the recommended carry procedures and obstacle covariance.