if you look at it from the perspective of "how many times has this happened" then the problem isn't that big of a deal. how many people get killed in car accidents every day? how many people get shot in the city every day? even just accidentally? it could be easy to over respond to a tragedy like this.
how in the hell does someone mistake a human being for a bear? people do stupid shit every day, as this board exemplifies.
here are a few possible ways we can take this:
1. Obviously, the solution would have been for the hiker to have been armed too, so as to protect herself from hunters.
2. Something about "arming bears"
3. etc.
In the end it seems like this is a random sad occurance, not unlike a 14 year old kid accidentally shooting and killing his best friend in an apartment in the city. stupid or youthful people will make mistakes. in the end no law will stop this from happening. is it legal for a 16 and 14 year old to go hunting bears together with no supervision? if an adult had been there would the situation had been different? Maybe, maybe not.