RESPONSIBILITY

 With the rise of another covid variant, the Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe Vs Wade, and more news coming out about how much Donald Trump tried to steal the last presidential election, it's almost easy to not notice that there was another horrific school shooting in our country which resulted in the death of four teenagers.  Sadly, these kind of shootings  have become so common that news coverage of them end quite quickly.

But this shooting seems different,  oh sure, both sides have already put out their usual talking points, with Democrats pushing for tougher gun laws and Republicans making a few vague comments about the need for better mental healthcare without offering any way to expand such care.  Same as usual.

But this shooting has,  raised the possibility of charges for the shooters parents, and questions about whether or not the school acted responsibly issues that are rarely brought up.  Today, the fifteen year old shooter's parents were booked on four charges of involuntary manslaughter, to which they pleaded not guilty.  The charges were based on the fact that not only did the shooter's parents purchase the gun for him, they were also warned by the school about some disturbing, violent drawings that he had made at school.  (he had also searched on his phone for ammunition at school, which the parents shrugged off.  His mother even seemed to encourage it.) Amazingly, they did nothing about their child's dark thoughts, and, according to the woman prosecuting them, didn't even lock up his gun after hearing about them.

This case raises some interesting questions about responsible gun ownership and parental responsibility.  Now, I do have some sympathy for them in that parenting teenagers can be very difficult.  I remember from my own teen years that I had several male friends (and even a couple of female ones) that were obsessed with violent movies and music, and sometimes they would draw pictures not unlike the ones that this boy drew, and, of course, none of them every actively acted out on those dark obsessions.  Really, embracing a dark view of life is a common thing that many teens go through.  It's not entirely unreasonable to believe that this shooter's parents just thought that he was going through a phase.

But the fact that they never even tried to hide the gun that they had bought for him as a present makes it hard for me to completely exonerate them.  Even though their purchase of the gun was legal, surely the fact that their son was going through a potentially violent stage should have convinced them to at least lock the gun up, if not keep somewhere out of the home.

And what about the school?  A few hours before the shooting, the school requested that his parents take him out of the school and to immediate counseling, but they strongly requested that he be allowed to stay, and so he did, with tragic results.  Really, this seems to be almost as much the school's fault as the parents.  This was a student who was exhibiting violent thoughts and who was potentially armed.  Surely there are times when the safety of all the children in school is more important than the desires of one set of parents.  In other words, I think it's reasonable that a child to be not allowed to remain in  school, even if his parents really want him to stay.  When you hear stories about how other high school students are suspended or expelled for less disturbing behavior than this, it seems tragically absurd that the school didn't do more to prevent this tragedy.  The case will probably come to court sometime soon, and we'll see if a financial settlement to the parents of the children that were killed is possible.  While similar lawsuits in the past have failed, it's possible that this time the school's actions will seem so irresponsible to a judge that the lawsuits may be upheld.

Let's face it , tougher gun laws are not going to be passed anytime in the near future in this country.  That's because, even though a majority of Americans support the passing of such laws, most of them do not feel strongly enough about them to vote for politicians that would pass them.  Gun control just isn't a big issue in most elections, and with Republicans poised to retake the House of Representatives next year, there's no chance of anything changing on that score.  So I'm glad to see at least that the parents in this case are being held responsible, and hopefully there will be some criminal consequence for them.  Even the most pro gun people accept the notion that gun ownership is something to take seriously and responsibly.  Surely, keeping a firearm out of the hands of a potentially dangerous teenage boy is criminally negligent.