I see your point but...I still hold parents ultimately responsible. Ignorance is not an acceptable excuse to me. But again I do see your point and respect your opinion. As far as punishment... man I don't know. Maybe the range will get fined? I hope the parents don't have the balls and try to sue that would just be absurd.
What's ultimately sad is someone lost their life and this kid will need therapy for awhile and the parent will have to live with whatever psychological damage this has cause their kid.
Sure parents are responsible for their children's safety. But that only goes so far. They only have so much control. When they hire a baby sitter, send them to school and put them in the hands of a teacher, send them to a doctor..., there is implicit trust. They trust their doctor will be competent and responsible and have the certifications and educational bonafides to back it up. If they screw up then you can take legal action.
You can argue that the parents were irresponsible or at best use poor judgement. But I don't think it merits legal action. The instructor was presumably the expert and should have screened this client better. I mean, if I sent my daughter to a martial arts school I don't expect her to do live knife training on her first day.
A horrible, horrible thing happen and we want to see someone pay. But the only one that I think was legally responsible is dead.
That nine year old girl should not have been handling a fully automatic rifle. The instructor should have known better. It should have been obvious by how she handled the rifle when it was on single shot mode. If the instructor did not have her shoot the firearm in single shot mode first but started her out on full auto then he was even more incompetent and should never have been be an instructor.
Of course, I am in no way imply that he deserved to be shot in the head. I would like to know more about this instructor's background and experience.