Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/02/16/two-teens-charged-in-kansas-city-super-bowl-mass-shooting-that-started-with-an-argument.html
…
13 Likes
I’m not a fan of trying juveniles as adults. They obviously need to be held accountable, but teenage brains are not fully developed and there’s a good reason that they’re treated differently under the law.
More than likely there were some adults along the way that allowed these teens to gain access to guns. I’d certainly like to see them held accountable too.
And of course this all happened at an event that had a huge police presence, which is yet another demonstration that we can’t rely on so-called “good guys with guns” to prevent these tragedies. As always, the main problem is too many damn guns. I wish that politicians were punished rather than rewarded for their part in that.
34 Likes
19 Likes
So tired of this shit.
19 Likes
Why did these teens have guns in the first place?
Oh…
Edit: Oops, failing my geography, Kansas City is technically in Missouri, but it straddles the border. Despite Missouri’s slightly more sane gun laws, it probably has little chance to control underage ownership due to the proximity.
12 Likes
The Chiefs are the team of Missouri, not Kansas.
That said, this is still a travesty.
15 Likes
Yeah the Chiefs stadium is a 15-minute drive or an afternoon’s walk from the state border. We are several generations overdue for some serious nationwide gun control measures.
20 Likes
So, good men without a gun did what police couldn’t (not blaming the police this time). Good for them. But the report says they tackled “a man”. Was this actually one of the shooters, or a bystander, or a bystander who saw his chance to play hero and pulled his own gun?
13 Likes
I’ve been curious, too. There was a man being walked away in handcuffs who didn’t look like he could have been either of the two juveniles charged. Of course, I don’t understand, either, how a “dispute” at a Super Bowl celebration turns into a death and multiple gun injuries. 'Murica. 0_o
7 Likes
Events like this really make some of the strongest arguments for gun control. These weren’t terrorists or criminals who would have found other weapons or other means of buying guns. They weren’t looking to shoot a bunch of people. These were insecure morons who were given a sense of power by having guns, probably used to being the only one in a confrontation to have a gun (causing everyone else to back down), who felt justified carrying around guns and whose terrified idiocy met its match in a very crowded place with tragic results. And this was possible entirely because of lax gun laws.
Also that it’s way too easy to get hold of them.
23 Likes
I’ve been trying to keep abreast of this situation, but there really hasn’t been a lot of details released. There have been a handful of eye witness interviews, as well as videos and pics of the day on places like Twitter. I imagine since the two are in custody, there is a good chance there will be more arrests since it was two small groups that started the argument/firing. And with how many charges there is likely going to be and them being tried as adults, it is probably going to take time for formal charges to be made. Them not releasing mug shots or names has to be due to them being minors.
RE: questions about the laws:
Union Station and The Chiefs stadium are both on Missouri side, in Kansas City, Missouri. To make things more confusing, there is also a Kansas City, Kansas.
The two weapons I saw photos of in reports were AR style pistols carried in backpacks, so no, under either KS or MO, a minor can’t buy or conceal carry a pistol legally. At least one of them had a vertical grip, which makes it an AOW that requires registration and a $5 tax stamp, which I doubt was legal. Combine that with them shooting wildly in public, I don’t think they are in the habit of caring about the laws.
I too would like to know if the parents knew they had guns, supplied them, or in any other way facilitated them having possession and carrying them. If so they might face similar charges as Jennifer Crumbley. But they could have not known when they were up to.
5 Likes
It’s what Americans have been encouraged to believe for generations. A gun solves all disputes large and small. Political disagreement? Draw a gun. Feel disrespected? Draw a gun. Don’t like the neighbor’s attitude? Draw a gun. That’s why any measures short of keeping guns out of peoples’ hands won 't stem the flood of idiotic gunplay. They keep saying, “Only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun” but they forget to add “And you’re always a good guy if you have a gun.”
16 Likes
If you ask my realtor friend who lives in KC (and who is also gay and should know better), it’s not the guns. It’s all because KC’s socialist mayor and city council defunded the police. Never mind the fact that there were like 800 LEOs at the parade. Never mind the fact that the KCPD reports to the State of Missouri, not Kansas City (largely due to KC’s history with the mafia) and Missouri state politics are dominated by Republicans. Nope, it’s the socialist mayor. Quinton Lucas. Who’s a lawyer. Educated at Cornell. And he taught admin law, contracts, and securities regulation at the University of Kansas Law School. Not a socialist. Progressive…ish, but definitely not a socialist.
22 Likes
An armed society is a polite society
Disproven by every second and every life cost in the meat grinder. Also only response will amount to “thought and prayer” cricket.
7 Likes
Any place that requires firearms to maintain courtesy is neither polite nor a society.
16 Likes
it starts off with kids getting guns, trying to look tough because they’re afraid of the other kids ( or adults ) who have guns, and then they’re the ones the next group of kids are afraid of. rinse and repeat
the promise that guns can save them is pressed upon them by every person who believes a gun can protect against violence
but all it takes is someone thinking they’re about to be shot at, for them to pull out the gun, and become a murderer
guns can’t stop violence. they generate violence. they generate criminals
it’s a distraction. punishment doesn’t work because it’s after the fact. it’s the equivalent of waiting till intubation to cure covid instead of getting people vaccinated.
the only thing that will stop people dying is preventing people from getting guns in the first place
it’s worked elsewhere. it will work here
15 Likes
It’s sad when children have to be tried as adults, but sometimes it’s necessary to keep society at large relatively safe.
Really? Because the U.S. is far more enthusiastic about trying children as adults than most other developed countries. Our policies in this area are actually a huge outlier compared to the rest of the world and I don’t think there’s much evidence that we’re a safer society here as a result.
14 Likes
That’s not a surprise; but it’s a pretty massive carve-out. As long as the people who have met the low bar of parenthood are at least as irresponsible as their brood; it’s all good legally speaking.
2 Likes
