4 Year Old Accidentally Shot by 8 Year Old Sister while target shooting

[RamboLiberal]

A 4-year-old girl fatally wounded Saturday near Wickenburg was accidentally shot by her 8-year-old sister, authorities said.

The 8-year-old was target-shooting with a .22-caliber rifle and her parents in the open desert between Wickenburg and Morristown, said Jeff Sprong, a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office spokesman.

"There were two families in that area doing some target-shooting practice," Sprong said. "The 8-year-old was practicing on a .22-caliber firearm. While she was shooting, the 4-year-old darted out in front of her."

The 8-year-old pulled the trigger and shot her sister in the head. The girl, whose name has yet to be released, was airlifted to St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, where she was pronounced dead at 11:33 a.m

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/westvalley/articles/2010/10/24/20101024arizona-wickenburg-girl-shot-killed-accident1025.html#ixzz13U9quZx0

Tragic.

[texastoast]

1. Horrible

Those parents should have been licensed. To parent.

[hlthe2b]

2. I still haven't gotten over the child who shot himself at a gun show

with an assault rifle. Heavens... Would these parents hand the car keys to an 8-year old?

[Angry Dragon]

4. Sure .......... have to learn sometime

Get a front seat, sit back and watch the show.
Be the first in your neighborhood to watch
the country slide into history

[benEzra]

8. That was the instructor's fault, not the parent's, IMO.

Shooting a gun under competent instruction, with an instructor's hands on the gun, is safe, and not uncommon given appropriate supervision and choice of firearm. However, the instructor handed a small child one of the most difficult-for-an-adult-to-control NFA Title 2 restricted submachineguns on this planet, and then left the child under the supervision of a 15-year-old. That was grossly negligent. That's like putting an untrained child on a 400hp custom Hayabusa and launching them into traffic without adult supervision.

Since machineguns are so tightly controlled in this country, I doubt the kid's dad knew about the risks of a high cyclic rate, short-barreled, low-moment-of-rotational-inertia subgun (I doubt he had any experience with them), but the instructor should have.

[RamboLiberal]

10. Problem was the instructor in this case was 15 years old

That was in direct supervision of this child. I doubt he knew a child that age couldn't handle an Uzi in this configuration on full auto.

[benEzra]

13. Well, there was supposedly a real instructor somewhere, probably chatting up the dad...

that was the guy I'm thinking of as responsible, not the 15-year-old. And you can imagine how the 15-year-old must feel, even though the fault truly lies with the experienced adult who should have foreseen the very predictable outcome of an 8-year-old with an 8-year-old's grip strength shooting a Micro.

If they wanted to provide kids the experience, they should have had a bench set up with an M4 and shorty stock, with an instructor right there, hand on the weapon as needed. An M4 won't spin in your hands and shoot you in the head in half a second if you lack grip strength.

[RamboLiberal]

19. 3 charged in this case are going on trial in about 2 weeks

So I guess we'll be hearing much more details on this case. Should be interesting.

[CBGLuthier]

3. Accident?

Bullshit.

Some idiot gives a child a gun and the other adult fucking idiots don't have the sense to keep an eye on a four year old?

Bullshit it was an accident. This was negligence. These things happen time and again and the people involved need to be punished heavily for being stupid and negligent.

[FireAnt]

5. Punishment

"the people involved need to be punished heavily"

What punishment is there that would be worse than loosing your four year old? Sentence them to time served (a lifetime without their child). I don't believe they'll be repeat offenders.

Any other punishment is a waste of prosecutor time and jail space.

[RamboLiberal]

6. Punishment - mine would be to speak at gun safety classes

And at Eddie Eagle classes to parents & children.

I'm with you that otherwise they've already been punished enough.

[benEzra]

9. They would be effective. (n/t)

[CBGLuthier]

14. I don't know, I never "loosed" a child

But your argument is the same tired shit that gets said every time.

You don't say that shit when someone intentionally kills a kid, why should this be any different.

[PavePusher]

12. "time and again"...?

You do know that such incidents are quite rare, yes?

[PVFR]

7. How tragic

I can't imagine the pain they are feeling. I agree, it is a life sentence for the parents and I just can't imagine what the other daughter is going through. RIP.

[proteus_lives]

11. Ban accidents. It's the only way we'll be safe.

[slackmaster]

15. Auto-unrec for drive-by "current events" post with nothing to connect it to the forum topics

:nuke:

[RamboLiberal]

17. IMHO it is related to what is discussed here

And you know if I posted in GD a mod would probably move it here.

One of the issues those who would like to ban guns from the public is the stats they like to post that a gun is more likely to harm a family member than be used in self defense.

Owning a gun is an enormous responsibility and when an accident like this happens it provides fuel to those who want to ban guns.

This story is news. It is a current event. And it is a reminder to those of us who have and use guns of our responsibility.

[spin]

16. Training young children to shoot takes care ...

you have to constantly pay attention, one on one, to the child.

The problem looks like no one was watching the four year old who was not shooting and ran downrange. He should have been well back of the firing line under supervision.

[ileus]

18. Kids need to be old enough to know....

before you take them to the range, mine are 6 and 8 and I still have to remind the kids over and over....."not past this line when (brother or sister) are shooting. Not past this line ever...ect. It's a constant thing when out with little ones.

Oh and I've also let my kids drive my Jeep in the yard 4 Wheel low since they were 3. I'll start it and let out on the clutch and jump to the ground and the kids will take turns driving around in the yard and field...of course I'm always right there if something should start to happen.

My daughter told me Saturday that I needed to buy her a pink 22, which I'll be doing this weekend.

[RamboLiberal]

20. Have a great time shooting that pink 22 with your daughter

No pink 22's in my day, but my grandfather took me out to shoot with his bolt action 22 when I was about 8. It was a lot of fun.

Yep, agree kids have to be old enough & listen well before taking them out to the range.