US gun laws are in the spotlight yet again today after a nine-year-old girl accidentally killed her instructor while learning to fire an Uzi at an Arizona shooting range.

Police said instructor Charles Vacca was struck in the head by an errant bullet when he allowed the girl to use the Uzi in the fully automatic setting.

Police said they will not press charges over the incident. (TODAY)

Vacca, 39, died in hospital a short time later.

Allowing children to handle heavy weaponry is far from out of the ordinary in the US, with some shooting ranges catering for kids aged as young as seven.

TODAY host Lisa Wilkinson was one of many expressing outrage over the incident and the country's lax gun laws this morning.

"It was under the supervision of both her parents and that man who unfortunately lost his life. She trusted adults and that's what happened. That little girl will never get over that," she said.

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The fatal accident drew immediate reaction from gun control advocates who want tighter rules, notably on automatic weapons, and advocates of gun rights.

The shooting has renewed calls for the US to change its gun laws. (TODAY)

Mike Bazinet of the National Shooting Sports Foundation said: "Youth shooting sports are generally extremely safe activities, enjoyed by millions of Americans.

"This was a tragic and deeply saddening accident."

Video of the incident at an Arizona shooting range was posted online shortly after. (TODAY)

But Lizzie Ulmer of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America said it should be a wake-up call. "We hope that this event will lead to a national discussion about children and guns," she said.

Laura Cutilletta, an attorney at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, in San Francisco, said: "This tragic incident is getting a lot of coverage in the media, as it should.

"But 18 children and young people under 24 die every day in America due to our weak gun laws. We also know that in the US over 1.69 million kids age 18 and under are living in households with loaded and unlocked firearms.

"That needs to change."