Gun Range Owner Defends Policies After 9-Year-Old’s Tragic Uzi Accident

The operator of the gun range where a 9-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed her instructor spoke with MSNBC's Chris Hayes.

The owner of Arizona’s Bullets and Burgers Adventure, the shooting range where a 9-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed her instructor on Monday, defended allowing children to shoot high-powered guns but also said the range’s policies are under review.

In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Sam Scarmardo said that, despite the incident, children would still be allowed to shoot guns but said that the range was considering changing its height policy.

“What we’re kind of kicking around right now is like at Disneyland, you know if you’re,” he said, gesturing with his hand, “not this tall, you can’t shoot.”

Although there’s no state law dictating an age requirement, the range has a self-imposed age limit of eight years old, Scarmardo said.

“We’ve got some pretty big, we grow some pretty big 8-year-olders out here in Arizona,” Scarmardo said.

The young girl, shown wearing pink shorts and sporting a braided ponytail in a video detailing the moments before the fatal shooting accident, although slight, was nine years old.

“This was a very mature young lady and something she wanted to do and her parents were treating her,” Scarmardo said. “You know this was a big, something that was high on her bucket list to do.”

Watch the video below, courtesy of MSNBC:

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Notable Replies

  1. He tried to take her gun, so she shot him.

    What’s wrong with that?

  2. Avatar for pylon pylon says:

    Bucket list? Poor choice of words.

  3. I watched that interview and almost fell out of my chair when he said they have first aid kits in case someone is injured.

  4. How many 9-year-olds keep a “bucket list”?

  5. “This was a very mature young lady and something she wanted to do and her parents were treating her,” Scarmardo said. “You know this was a big, something that was high on her bucket list to do.”

    On the instructor’s bucket list, not so much.

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