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tv   Nightline  ABC  August 28, 2014 12:37am-1:08am EDT

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this is "nightline." >> tonight -- >> just one shot. >> the 9-year-old, the loaded uzi, and what happened next. the disaster that has stirred a raging debate about kids and guns. across america, children still losing their baby teeth are packing some serious heat. >> this one right here is my favorite. >> the parents say the more you know, the safer you are. but as you'll see tonight, things can go horribly wrong. plus, our journey to the gate of hell. here at ground zero of the ebola
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outbreak. the clock is ticking as this virus spreads. and tonight, our dr. richard veser is going right into the hot zone with the workers risking their lives to stop it. and ride the wave. hurricane force winds coming across the pacific have these guys riding high. but what happens when the big one comes crashing down? but first, the "nightline" five.
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good evening. it is the image creating an uproar tonight. a 9-year-old girl sporting a loaded uzi. she was taking shooting lessons when something went terribly wrong. this video opens a window on to a thriving subculture here in america. parents, often with an assist from the nra, teaching their children how to handle guns. they say education keeps kids safer, but the video you're about to see will only give ammunition, so to speak, who say kids and guns do not mix. here's abc's juju chang. >> reporter: it's the latest fatal collision. a new jersey family visits arizona last stop, a popular gun range outside las vegas.
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it's a chance for their 9-year-old daughter to fire an uzi machine gun. her parents capture it all on video while the instructor is by her side. >> give me one shot. >> reporter: then he sets it on automatic. but when the girl pulls the trigger again, tragedy. the recoil makes her lose control of the weapon. 39-year-old vaka is shot in the head, killing him. how does a 9-year-old get an uzi in her hands? >> a 9-year-old gets an uzi in her hands when -- the criteria is 8-year-old. we instruct kids as young as 5, but they're under the supervision of their parents and of our professional range masters. >> reporter: it's the latest round reigniting the heated national debate on gun control. >> line is hot. everybody has eyes and ears on. >> reporter: one i've reported on for years. >> nice. look at that. >> reporter: on this range outside austin, texas, girls as
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young as 6 are getting gun safety training with serious firepower. but these sem automatic ar-15s don't have the same kickback as the fully automatic uzi. what is your gun's name? >> barbie. >> reporter: vanessa is one of seven pint-sized shooters. vanessa is just 7, but the gun industry is looking for young shooters like her to ensure growth in the future. >> when you teach kids that young, you take the mystery out of the gun. they know to respect it. if you teach them to respect it. >> reporter: nicky jones leads the austin sure shots, a women's only shooting club that runs the kid's training course. though this event is independently sponsored, turns out the national rifle association and other industry sponsored organizations pour tens of millions of dollars every year into youth shooting programs nationwide. but should children this young really be trumsed with
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potentially lethal force? >> what we always start with are the four basics of firearms safety. >> reporter: nicky begins with the fundamentals. >> rule number one, treat every firearm as if it's loaded. >> reporter: golden rules of shooting. >> don't point your gun at anything you're not going to shoot. >> reporter: a critical lesson, since once almost every hour in america a child or teen is injured or killed by a gun. often fired accidently by other children. what made you think okay, she's 6, she's ready to try this? >> she had seen the weapons in our gun safe, and she was asking questions. so for us it was an important time to utilize that to educate her. >> reporter: some liken it to playing with fire. but vanessa's mom believes training with funs will make her daughter safer. she keeps several guns, including barbie, locked up at
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home. the star of the event is 9-year-old gia, who shoots like a regular annie oakley. >> give me three on the right. >> reporter: skills that nicky says are about sportsmanship, not defense rooms. >> we don't teach them to clear rooms. it's pure sport. >> reporter: while they store their guns in locked safes, critics argue training and trust may not be enough to prevent accidents. kids and guns they say don't mix. >> kits are impulsive and you can't teach that out of a kid. >> reporter: dr. denise dowd helps write policy for the american academy of pediatrics. she says kid's brains aren't ma sure enough. >> you can teach them, but they should not be in independent control of that weapon. >> reporter: there are 30 to 50 cases abyulely.
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>> you don't trust your quid 1s00% of the time especially something so high risk. >> how many times does it have to happen before people say it's enough? it's enough for me. i didn't choose to sacrifice my child. we keep a watchful eye on his candles. >> reporter: jody sandoval keeps a memorial for her son. he was just 14 when he and his best friend were playing at his grand parent's house. >> levi found a gun behind the television. he removed the clip and fired a shot. >> reporter: listen as his 14-year-old friend is questioned by police. >> i pulled the trigger and i thought it hit the wall and it hit him. >> reporter: throughout his enter dpainterrogatio interrogation, levi has no idea the shot was fatal. >> do you think we should tell him what happened? i do too.
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noah didn't make it. he's dead. >> reporter: levi pled guilty to reckless homicide and sentenced to year of probation. noah's mom, jody, says she doesn't blame levi for her son's death. during trial she asked the judge to lower his sentence. >> levi made a horrible, terrible accident, but it wasn't an accident that a gun was left out. >> reporter: while 14 states have safe storage laws which reduce accidental shooting deaths, ohio has no such law. >> it only takes one person from the horror of what my family and i are facing, just one, it's enough. >> reporter: the nra, which turned down our request for an interview, has opposed on such laws. but the organization does
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recommend that guns should be stored securely until ready for use. making sure that they're not accessible to children. back on the range, safety is always a top priority for the sure shots. >> i have to say all of you were very safe. >> reporter: youth training day ends with diplomas. >> give yourselves a round of applause. >> reporter: and a very memorable class photo. >> smile. >> reporter: it's something these kids and parts believe deeply in the right to bear arms, at any age. but in light of this latest tragic accident, gun critics wonder at what cost? for "nightline," i'm juju chang in austin, texas. coming up next on "nightline," inside the hot zone. our dr. richard veser suiting up and heting into the worst ebola outbreak our planet has seen. as the cdc arrives on the scene, this question, are they too late? looking for a convenient way to fill your viagra prescription online? go to viagra.com to find out about viagra home delivery.
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tonight, we have some extraordinary reporting from inside the hot zone. abc's chief medical editor dr. richard veser managed to gain access to the heard of the fight to stop the ebola virus. what they found is truly shocking. he's witnessed all manner of medical emergencies, but this one he's calling "the gates of hell." >> reporter: i'm on my way to one of the most dangerous places on earth. we're headed straight into the heart of an ebola outbreak, the worst the world has seen. a virus that kills up to 90% of
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those it infects. >> reporter: this is jfk hospital, one of only a handful of ebola clinics in liberia. we're going into the triage unit here where they sort out whether a patient has ebola or somethings else. it's a grim purgatory for sick patients. they wait here to find out if they test positive for ebola. some will be moved into the isolation ward. others have to wait. in the fight to contain the virus, health care workers face great risk every day. two doctors in this hospital have already died. so many health care workers have gotten ebola. does that worry you? >> yes, it worries me.
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>> reporter: in this dangerous battle, doctors here have shockingly few resources. some are forced to rely on makeshift contamination suits. so we're going into the ebola ward. the final part is put thing hood on, but they don't have hoods ready made, so they're making them out of other equipment. the protective hoods that would keep them safe, this would cost $1.50, but supplies are scarce. simple bleach is a lifesaver. this is where they're getting sprayed down after leaving the unit. if it isn't done properly, this is where they can get contaminated. ebola is spread through bodily fluids. symptoms begin with fever and body aches. in some, severe blood loss and organ failure. death can come quickly, often with days. patients in here are the lucky
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ones. they have doctors and medical care. occasionally, a survival story. how are you doing? is she doing well? this woman is one of the few who recovered from ebola. how long has she been at the hospital? how many days? one week, one day? how do you feel today? >> i'm jumping. >> reporter: but the jfk clinic is overcrowded and overwhelmed. doctors must turn away potentially infected people every day. outside the unit, patients are waiting. they think they may have ebola. they watch as ten bodies are removed from the ebola ward. this is incredible. seeing the truck cart away ten bodies of people who died from ebola. i can't imagine what someone is thinking, who has arrived there
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for treatment. you know, it's the gates of hell, going into that treatment ward and knowing the odds are you're going to come out in a body bag. for the past five months, ebola has ravaged western africa. 1400 have been reported dead. 2600 infected. the outbreak has struck several countries. the worst of it here in liberia. a ground zero for the epidemic. here, a haunting question -- is it too late? in the capital, chaos and panic is leading to desperate measures. unable to control ebola's spread, last week the government quarantined an entire slum, home to 75,000 people. as the quarantine orders sparked riots, residents were unable to leave, forced to rely on the government for food and water. abc news has been reporting from the center of the outbreak since it began.
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>> they're checking who can come in and out. only people with medical supplies can come in and out. >> reporter: this is the part of the city that's been quarantined. it's where there's been the most ebola and they're not letting people in and out of the area. fences keep thousands inside the slum. they've been in this compound for seven days? >> eight days. >> reporter: why? >> we are quarantined. >> reporter: it's like you're in prison? inside the isolation zone, we spy a young man she had met before the quarantine. steven, i'm dr. richard, abc news. how are you doing? steven is a 30-year-old man from west point. his father, sister and two brothers all contracted ebola. >> normally you got somebody sick you can go to the hospital and visit them. how do you feel knowing you can't see them?
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>> reporter: although steven lives in west point, he had taken to sleeping in a taylor shot to avoid getting the virus. but in a stroke of bad luck, he was inside the slum when the quarantine took effect. we got special permission for steven to cross the barrier to speak with us. in this section, it's no more than a simple piece of rope. how many people have you lost from ebola? what's the solution? how will ebola end? >> i don't see we are doing enough. the best solution now i think for me is to get a way out. >> reporter: he's now forced to cross the rope line back into the ebola zone. i've seen outbreaks all over the world and i've never seen anything like this. it makes no sense in terms of disease control. this is just adding enormous
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pain and suffering. in this dark area, an influx of help from abroad is a rare ray of hope. a new center is set to open its doors as soon as tomorrow. modern, clean and capable of holding up to 400. for so many people here, these effort also be too little, too late. and many people wonder what might have happened had the world acted sooner? i'm dr. richard besser in liberia. >> we want to thank dr. besser and our producers for their amazing and dangerous work tonight. coming up next on "nightline," a big storm off the coast of california means big waves. it might look like fun, but look what happens to these beachgoers. introducing dance-all-you-want bladder leak protection
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timely tonight, this is what happens when big waves, big danger, and a thirst for adrenaline collide. today with powerful storms churning off the coast of
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california, officials warned the crowds to stay out of the water. but that did not stop some adrenaline junkies from hopping in and surfing. and these spectators were lining the beach to watch. and look what happens next. a monster wave comes crashing down. >> i've never seen such a ling like this ever. >> this is first time we've had this big a swell this year. >> and the danger wasn't just on the shoreline. out on the water with waves reaching an estimated 20 feet, it was treacherous. this is catnip for some surfers, but it creates major hazards for people who have to rescue them. laird hamilton helped save a life today. >> he was happy. he was appreciative. >> one of several rescues that have kept lifeguards busy. and forecasters predict it's not over yet with those storms still lurking off the coast. the surf will be up until friday.
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two more days of temptation for those surfers. we hope everybody stays safe. thank you for watching "nightline." tune in to "gma" in the morning. good night. the caribou lodge is closed today, so he's hangin' around the house, and he's makin' me miserable. you ain't doin' th much for me, either. what do you mean, the lodge is closed? we're havin' some financial trouble due to a recent thinning of the herd.
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thinning of the herd? the old men are dying. yeah, we're down to four days a week now. if things keep goin' this way, we may have to close altether. oh, god, no! you guys need some new blood? blood, hips, hair-- whatever you got. you know, frank, i know that, up till now, the lodge has been a men's club, but if you were to consider... for...get it! you know what they did at my parents' country club? i don't think anybody wants to hear a fancy country-club story right now, dear. it's not a fancy country... you know what they did? they had special recruiting events. what do you mean? recruiting event to attract new members. they had a wine tasting, a casino night, a luau.

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