Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/02/06/mother-of-school-shooter-found-guilty-of-manslaughter.html
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What did it for me was that her son had asked his parents for help multiple times, even before that day, and they laughed it off as a joke and told him he needed to “man up”. I don’t feel great about a life sentence for a clearly troubled 15 year old, but that’s a whole other discussion. At least he owned up to what he did. His parents seem to still not think they did anything wrong.
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i heard testimony where she blamed everyone else – the school, her husband – and now it makes more sense because the evidence showed she was the last adult with the gun.
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I’m not surprised someone so irresponsible would point the finger at anyone but herself. I hope this verdict sends a strong message to others.
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Narrator: “But it would not”
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Yeah, we really need to de-normalize giving weapons to children, even disturbed children. I’m so outside gun culture that the idea that anyone thinks this is somehow an acceptable thing to do boggles my mind.
Some people will never get the message, no matter what we do, but some need a verdict like this to get it. And long-term, de-normalizing gun culture means there are fewer people who refuse to get the message.
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I’ve read your comments long enough to know you meant especially instead of even.
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Yes, like that congresscritter who flashed his gun when the college kid was talking to them about not feeling safe because of guns. Completely missing the point because of that normalization.
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Reminds me of a scene from the movie Parenthood:
- Helen: I guess a boy Garry’s age really needs a man around.
- Tod: Well, it depends on the man. I had a man around. He used to wake me up every morning by flicking lit cigarettes at my head “Hey, asshole, get up and make me breakfast.” You know, Mrs. Buckman, you need a license to buy a dog, or drive a car. Hell, you need a license to catch a fish! But they’ll let any butt-reaming asshole be a father.
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I hope so too… but imagine what kind of sociopath would only care about the possibilty of their child committing a mass shooting if such a shooting carried legal consquences for them personally.
Most any parent would be more horrified by the idea of their child committing a mass murder (and likely getting themselves killed in the process) than the idea of serving time in prison.
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I quote that in my office all the friggin’ time. Parenting is not easy, and way too many think it should be.
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They’re out there. But I think this ruling helps more than just keep those ones in line.
Back when drunk driving wasn’t taken seriously, people didn’t want to kill pedestrians, other drivers, etc. But the social norm was to drive even if you’d had many drinks. And nobody thought they’d be the one to kill a bystander or two. Strange, because those deaths weren’t rare - the road fatality rate in most western countries in the 1970s was over triple what it is now.
Then fines and license suspensions became normal, and a lot of people stopped drinking and driving. I suspect it was not because getting a fine and possible jail time was worse than killing someone, but because getting a fine and a suspended license was both unpleasant and easier to imagine than killing someone.
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Lots of people were prosecuted for vehicular homicide before fines and suspensions became normal. For the analogy to hold up I think we need to start fining and jailing more parents for irresponsible gun practices before their kids go on murder sprees.
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That would be excellent.
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