I can see recoil killing
If a basketball or baseball or even a soccer ball can kill with the right force and impact placement, recoil can kill too. My worst firearms experience was from my jerk of an uncle who had me shoot a .22 LR rifle, then a 7mm Remington Magnum semi-auto, I was about 12 and he didn't tell me how to hold the rifles (never shot a gun before) and had me shoot into a tree, and didn't tell me how to use the sights, so I presume the shots went into the tree.
By the way, this was in Kansas, and there was the tree and then at least two miles of flat ground before another tree, with farm houses down range somewhere. I didn't let me use eye or ear protection. The lesson he was trying to teach me? He wanted to show me that Rambo couldn't hold an M-60 and fire one handed. On top of this, he told me that 7mm Rem Mag rifle was worn enough that it would go full-auto on you.
Despite my uncle being a jerk, I have learned to hunt and use firearms on my own. As for handguns, I use a good two-hand hold. When I fired a 1911 style pistol in 45 ACP, yes, it kicked in my hands, but the recoil was controlable and I keep a firm grip on it. I didn't have problems with additional trigger pulls as I kept the trigger pulled back hard until after I came out of recoil. Then again, I am a full-on control freak with firearms useage. I get upset with idiots who don't follow the basic safety rules, whether on the range or in on a hunt.
I can see how someone can have something bad happen if they are stupid, but that happens with just about anything that has risk to it. We need more common sense....