FAMILY OF GUN INSTRUCTOR SLAIN BY 9-YR-OLD FIRING UZI FILES WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT

[Whiskeytide]

16. The lawyer has, I think, already lost the case...

..." 'It's fundamentally unsafe to give machine guns to children,' said James Goodnow, the attorney representing the Vacca family in the suit."

I think that's a true statement - especially fully auto weapons. But Lawyer Goodnow needs to watch how he states that opinion.

Apparently it was the decedent who gave the machine gun to the child. He had worked for the range as an instructor for a year and a half, and putting guns in the hands of children was part of his job. If it was so fundamentally unsafe - enough so that the range should have refused to do it even though the law allowed it - then he should have recognized it as such as well and refused to do it or quit the job.

However - the family should be entitled to a worker's compensation death benefit from the range, as that is typically owed regardless of fault.