Source: https://lambergoodnow.com/denver/vacca/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 11:05:55+00:00

Document:
On August 25, 2014, at the Arizona Last Stop gun range, a nine-year-old girl lost control of a firing Uzi and killed gun instructor Charles Vacca. Vacca was 39 when the tragedy occurred. He had four children: his sons Christopher Vacca, 11, and Tylor Vacca, 14, and daughters Elizabeth Vacca, 15, and Ashley Moser, 19. Vacca was standing next to the girl when she squeezed the Uzi’s trigger. The recoil wrenched the Uzi upward, and shot Vacca in the head. Vacca was airlifted to a Las Vegas hospital; however, he died from the single shot to the head.
On the one-year anniversary of the shooting, Vacca’s children launched the We Have a Voice initiative, which is an online petition to prevent children from using fully automatic weapons. This initiative is geared at building a coalition of legislators and community members to support the cause.
Following is an overview of the current gun laws in Arizona and around the country.
However, this age restriction does not apply to emancipated minors, minors accompanied by a parent, grandparent or guardian, a certified hunter safety instructor, a certified firearms safety instructor acting with the consent of the unemancipated person’s parent or guardian, or minors on private property owned or leased by the minor, the minor’s parent, grandparent or guardian.4 Additionally, Arizona does not currently have any assault weapons laws and minors may fire fully automatic assault weapons if they are in the presence of adult supervision.
Some states have prohibitions or proposed prohibitions on fully automatic weapons. Most recently, The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence has joined California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom in launching the Safety for ALL ballot initiative, which is a series of gun laws that will improve public safety.15 One of the five provisions on the ballot would be to prohibit possession of large-capacity military style guns. If this initiative passes, California would join New York, New Jersey, Hawaii and Washington, D.C. in banning the possession of military-style magazines.
Additionally, following the tragic death of Vacca, Arizona House of Representatives member Victoria Steele proposed a ban on allowing children under the age of 16 from using machine guns.16 In 2014, California senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer wrote the president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation asking them to help create polices prohibiting minors from shooting fully automatic weapons at gun ranges.17 In March 2015, house member of Louisiana Barbara Norton, introduced a bill to prohibit minors under the age of 12 from using Uzis.18 The bill did not pass.
Charles Vacca’s children believe it’s time for our community, legislators and concerned citizens to have a broad discussion about children’s access to fully automatic weapons. The only way that change is going to occur is with open and intelligent dialogue that will turn into action.
The children of Charles Vacca believe that there are actions individuals and lawmakers can take to create a safer environment for everyone – all while preserving the Second Amendment protections in which they firmly believe. That is the genesis of the We Have a Voice petition. To become involved, please visit the We Have a Voice page and sign the petition.
1 Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 13-3101(A)(7)(a)-(g) (A prohibited possessor includes: a person who has been found to be a danger to themself or others, a person who has been found to have acute or grave disabilities pursuant to court order, who has been convicted of a felony and whose civil right to carry a gun has not been restored, who at time of possession is serving time in prison or a detention facility, who is on parole for domestic violence, or a felony offense, parole, community supervision, work furlough, home arrest, who is an undocumented alien or a nonimmigrant alien traveling with or without documentation in this state for business or pleasure or who is studying in this state and who maintains a foreign residence abroad, who has been found incompetent pursuant to rule 11, Arizona rules of criminal procedure and who is found guilty except insane).
2 Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 13-3111(A).
5 Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 13-3111(B)(1)-(4).
7 Arizona Department of Public Safety, http://www.azdps.gov/services/concealed_weapons/contact/.
8 Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 4-229(A)(1).
9 Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 4-229(A)(1)-(3) (An Arizona Statute that states a person may carry a concealed handgun on the premises of a licensee who is an on-sale retailer unless the licensee posts a sign that clearly prohibits the possession of weapons on the licensed premises. The sign shall conform to the following requirements: 1. Be posted in a conspicuous location accessible to the general public and immediately adjacent to the liquor license posted on the licensed premises. 2. Contain a pictogram that shows a firearm within a red circle and a diagonal red line across the firearm. 3. Contain the words, “no firearms allowed pursuant to A.R.S. section 4-229”).
10 Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 13-3102(A)(1)-(16).
11 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(1), (c)(1).
13 18 U.S.C. § 922(x)(1), (5).
14 Law Center for Prevention of Gun Violence, Child Access Prevention Policy Summary (Aug. 1, 2013), http://smartgunlaws.org/child-access-prevention-policy-summary/.
15 Law Center for Prevention of Gun Violence, Teaming Up with the Lieutenant Governor to End Gun Violence in California (Oct. 5, 2015), http://smartgunlaws.org/.

References: § 13
 § 13
 § 13
 § 4
 § 4
 § 13
 § 922
 § 922