commentary by Patrick H. Moore
There’s no finer place than the Wild Wild West. Where else can a 9-year-old year munch down on a yummy burger (my mouth is watering) and then proceed to the firing range to receive expert instruction on how to fire: not a cap pistol (do they even exist anymore), not a Walt Disney toy flintlock (like I had when I was a young boy in the Midwest), not a Lady Derringer (which would be kind of cool to shoot if you think about it), not a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver (a tried and true firearm if there ever was one), not a 30-30 deer rifle (a staple amongst the German farmers I grew up with), but rather an honest-to-goodness Uzi SubMach (capable of firing 950 rounds per minute)? Talk about a kick in the head!
And all of this splendor is available at the Last Stop Bullets & Burgers outdoor shooting range in White Hills, Arizona, not far from Las Vegas.
At the Last Stop, as long as your parents are there with you and you are at least are 8-years-old, according to company policy, you can rent an Uzi SubMach and blast off your 950 rounds with your instructor standing nearby paying close attention to make sure everything is copacetic.
Here’s how “Bullets and Burgers” describes itself on its website:
“The Bullets and Burgers Adventure is a private outdoor range set in a stunning outdoor desert landscape. We separate ourselves from all other Las Vegas ranges with our unique ‘Desert Storm’ atmosphere and military style bunkers. We are located on the eclectic 30+ acre Arizona Last Stop property surrounded by picturesque mountain views at the edge of the undeveloped Lake Mead Recreational Area.”
The advertising material goes on to talk about how “a wide range of fully automatic machine guns and specialty weapons” are available, how lunch is included featuring the “World Famous All American Hamburger”, and how guests are picked up at their hotel and dropped off after the “Bullets and Burgers Adventure” which “is approximately 4 – 5.5 hours in length.”
The cost is about $270 for the basic package. (I’m not sure if that’s per person or per family.)
On the morning of Monday, August 25, just as millions of Americans were easing into their work week, a New Jersey family happened to be vacationing in the great Southwest. Perhaps Dad had picked up a few bucks playing blackjack in Vegas; perhaps Mom had pulled a few handles with alacrity; in any event, our All-American family had made reservations at Bullets and Burgers.
It turned out our All-American family had a surprise in store as did their shooting instructor.
Hasani Gittens of NBC News writes:
A shooting range instructor in Arizona was accidentally shot and killed by a 9-year-old girl who was learning how to shoot an Uzi, authorities said on Tuesday.
Charles Vacca, 39, was teaching the girl how to use the automatic weapon on Monday morning at the Last Stop outdoor shooting range in White Hills, Arizona, when she pulled the trigger and the kickback caused the gun to lurch over her head, investigators said.
Vacca was hit by a stray bullet and airlifted to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, where he was pronounced dead late Monday. The girl was at the range with her parents at the time, but their names were not released.
The victim of the Uzi that went awry, Mr. Vacca, had prepped the child by having her fire a single shot at the target, which went off without a hitch. He then apparently flipped the gun to auto mode.
While this was going on, the child’s mother had set up the family’s video recording equipment and was happily shooting a home movie (or whatever they call them these days).
And I certainly don’t blame the child’s parents. There is no cuter sight on all of God’s Green Earth than a lovely 9-year-old girl armed with a Uzi SubMach on full auto blasting away at a much-perforated target. And it’s excellent practice, for God knows, the way things are going, one day she may need to shoot illegal aliens or space aliens or some kind of aliens, or even terrorists, and since aliens and terrorists can appear in large numbers, a fully auto Uzi SubMach in seasoned, veteran hands could put a lot of them out of their misery in very short order.
The 9-year-old girl, however, apparently lacked “seasoned veteran hands” which is why when she started shooting on auto, the kickback caused the gun to lurch over her head which resulted in Mr. Vacca being shot in the head.
(When our contributor, BJW Nashe wrote his classic meditation, “14 Ways to Get Shot in the Head”, he failed this include this possibility, but that can certainly be remedied with a quick revision.)
And to look on the bright side, although the child may be permanently scarred from accidentally shooting her instructor in the head and killing him, at least her mom recorded it so it will presumably be available for the whole family for all posterity. And when the child ultimately goes into therapy, instead of explaining what happened, she can simply play the video for her shrink.
Furthermore, it’s not like Bullets and Burgers was careless or was out of step with the other shooting ranges. Sam Scarmardo, the manager for the Last Stop’s shooting range, told NBC News that “the established practice at most shooting ranges is 8 years old and up with parental supervision.”
(Personally, I think these rules are far too restrictive. There’s no reason a mature 5-year-old girl should not be allowed to fire an Uzi SubMach at a target or terrorists, for that matter. The younger you learn, the more valuable you’re going to be on that dreadful day when our backs are up against the wall.)
Mr. Scarmardo said Mr. Vacca — who was in the military for 12 years and had plenty of experience with firearms — was a “great guy, with a great sense of humor” and called him “very conscientious and very professional.”
Mr. Scarmardo said that the range has never had a similar incident in over a decade of being in business, “not even a scratch.”
“I just ask everybody to pray for Charlie, and pray for the client, she’s going to have a hard time,” said Scarmardo.
There is some question, however, as to why Mr. Vacca didn’t keep a firm hand on the Uzi SubMach when the child started firing. Ronald Scott, a Phoenix-based firearms safety expert, said most instructors usually have their hands on guns when children are firing high-powered weapons. “You can’t give a 9-year-old an Uzi and expect her to control it,” Scott told the Associated Press.
But I guess that’s really the point. Firearms are dangerous and the more high-powered they are, the more dangerous they are. They should be handled with extreme care and in this case, the instructor was apparently not careful and it cost him his life. That’s the thing about guns. One false move can be “all she wrote” and in this case it was. So as a society, we need to learn from this. Not only do we need to be more careful, but we also need to start training our kids at a younger age. In this case, the shooter was 8-years-old, far too old, practically ancient. If she’s already had three years of experience firing high-powered rifles and SubMachs under her belt, she would have instantly recognized the need to remind the instructor to “keep his hands on the gun” as she was firing to avert any possibility of tragedy.
Ah well, there’s plenty of opportunity to “live and learn”. And I’m pretty sure that Bullets and Burgers is going to be around for a long time.
Click here to view BJW Nashe’s classic meditation of gun violence in America: