What's an 18 yr Old Doing With a Gun In Radnor? Or, The Tale of The Dropped Gun at Camp at Valley Forge Military Academy?
So, was it GUN CAMP? A little teeny blip on NBC10, and a news story in the Inquirer and elsewhere. A Valley Forge Military Academy Camp Counselor shot himself in the foot apparently when he dropped a gun he was putting away?
Doesn't that ever bother North Wayne residents? That they have a campus with loads of firearms so close to residential? And why would a, 18 year old CAMP counselor need a gun?
Very strange indeed. Anyone hearing "Taps"? As is the movie where Tom Cruise went psycho? Oh goody mom and dad, let's send "junior" to gun camp!
How do y'all feel about "older kids" being trained on how to use a .22 and other guns? Within spitting distance of a residential neighborhood?
Camp counselor, 18, shoots himself in foot
An 18-year-old counselor at a Valley Forge Military Academy summer camp accidentally shot himself in the foot yesterday morning.
Roger Sacchi, of Union Beach, N.J., was putting away a .22 caliber pistol after an activity when it discharged, according to Radnor Township police. He was taken to Crozer-Chester Medical Center, where he was treated and released.
The incident, which is still being investigated, occurred shortly before 11 a.m....The school, at 1000 Eagle Rd. in Wayne, offers a number of summer camps, including day and boarding, for about 300 children ages 6 to 17. The camp Web site lists marksmanship as an special activity. It is for the older children, according to a camp spokesman. - Mari A. Schaefer
NBC10: Military Academy Camp Counselor Accidentally Shoots Self In Foot
No Campers Injured
POSTED: 5:12 pm EDT July 17, 2008
UPDATED: 5:38 pm EDT July 17, 2008
DELAWARE COUNTY, Pa. -- Police investigated a shooting at a day camp at the Valley Forge Military Academy in Delaware County.
Authorities said an 18-year-old counselor was storing a gun when it accidentally discharged Thursday morning.
The counselor was hit in the foot.
DelcoTimes:Counselor wounded in gun mishap at Valley Forge Military Academy
By the Times Staff
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Reminds me of my childhood, actually. I was shooting .22s around age 14 when I was in the Boy Scouts.
What exactly is the problem with teaching proper use of a firearm? Many gun injuries occur each year because people do not follow the safety rules. If this sort of training saves lives, then so much the better.
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permalinkBut were you doing that in the woods somewhere? Boy Scouts learn how to shoot real guns? It's just the Main Line is kind of ridiculous with all these camps...fashion camp, diversity camp, canyon ranch spa camp, ballet camp, math camp, model UN camp, gun camp....what ever happened to the fun things kids like to do in summer like climbing trees, going swimming?
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permalinkSome local private schools in Lower Merion used to have indoor rifle ranges as recently as 15 years ago. They would probably still be there if it were not for litigation concerns.
An 18 year can legally purchase and possess a long gun. A 13 year old can legally hunt as long as he or she is with an adult guardian and has passed a hunter safety course. When a youth under 18 is not with a guardian, the youth may not possess a firearm and the parents should keep all firearms locked in a gun safe when children are present or may be present. Even without children in the picture, firearms should be locked in a secure safe so they can't be easily stolen.
During the opening week of deer season Pennsylvania hunters constitute the 7th largest army in the world as over 750,000 hunters decend on the woods. One of our sitting Supreme Court Justices used to take a rifle on the subway to school when he grew up in New York City.
If you think about the fact that 5 million Pennsylvanians own firearms, the accidental shooting rate is actually very low and demonstrates that Pennsylvanian's take firearms safety seriously given how many people are involved in hunting and sport shooting and how few negligent discharges there are.
No doubt if there is a negligent discharge where someone is harmed, it makes the news and the media scare tactics begin to sell papers and commercial time.
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permalinkHowever, if an 18 year old is acting as a camp counselor to younger kids and demonstrating proper use of fire arms, shouldn't this kid have taken the bullets or whatever out when he was done firing it? (Firing is the term, right?). And while I have no problem with people legally owning guns , it doesn't make me warm and fuzzy to hear about a US Supreme Court Justice having taken a rifle on the subway when growing up.
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permalinkThe interesting thing back in the 40's and 50's is that even public schools had rifle clubs and kids brought guns to school for the rifle club. Anyone could buy a firearm at the local hardware store without a background check - and the firearms crime rate was much lower and there were hardly any school shootings. That is my point, and it goes to what has gone wrong with society since then?
As for the VFMA issue, the 18 year old did not follow proper firearms safety procedures and my immediate concern if I were a parent of a child at that camp would be exactly what type of training did this 18 year old receive and why was a more mature adult not involved? Now, an older adult could have been, and should have been at their indoor range and perhaps this 18 year old was just putting the rifles into secure storage when this negligent discharge occurred.
Still, I would not have a comfort level with an 18 year old running a rifle range. It's fine if he was a range master with a more mature adult who is well trained in firearms use and safety around, but we don't know all the details to that.
I would remove this 18 year as a counselor at the camp and make sure instructors are properly trained and certified by the NRA, and I would only use certified instructors with a few decades of experience under their belts.
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permalinkalright, a couple of things, first of all TAPS was filmed where this happened. second of all i was attending camp when this happened. third of all there was a trained marksmanship counselor there besides roger. fourthly, this was an elective activity. fifthly i was in marksmanship both years i have attended. sixthly ROGER WAS TRAINED, he just was easily distracted. seventhly, blic, the other counselor was a former pirson guard, who was extremely qualified to teach this class
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permalinkI know TAPS was filmed at VFMAC. And I will admit, while I am a fan of the military, I am not a fan of VFMAC. From what I have seen reported in the papers over the years and from what I have heard from other sources, I think VFMAC needs to be more careful.
And someone who is trained in training others with firearms does not and should not have the luxury of being "easily distracted".
The accident still happened, and it is good that nothing worse happened. People have a right to comment.
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