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Jac's avatar

This is enraging. The kids drew out what he intended to do and the adults didn't stop it. The parents are to blame along with the kid. But what else could have been done to stop the shooting? As I heard about the story, I wondered why the parents had a choice on whether or not to take him home that day. Why didn't the school send him home, with no other option? And why wasn't his locker, backpack, and person searched?

Maybe schools do need metal detectors.

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Susan Campbell's avatar

I don’t know the details of that meeting and honestly, the details of everything else in this story — save for the dead and the hurt — keep changing. Was the gun secure? I don’t know. But yes. It’s enraging.

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Rich Colbert's avatar

I am reminded of this story......https://www.masslive.com/news/2008/10/westfield_police_release_name.html and of course will NEVER forget the Sandy Hook massacre that Mrs. Lanza contributed to....I have nothing against hunters but.......

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Susan Campbell's avatar

And she’s dead and gone and look at her legacy.

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Rich Colbert's avatar

Yes she did reap what she sowed

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Sharon Foster (CT)'s avatar

The wrinkle in the Lanza story is that the killer was not a minor. If she had lived, it's not clear that she would have had any liability under CT's safe storage laws.

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Susan Campbell's avatar

That's an excellent point.

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Rich Colbert's avatar

maybe we, as a society, need to iron out such 'wrinkles'?

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Sharon Foster (CT)'s avatar

I was reminded of a story from M. Scott Peck's People of the Lie. A couple gave their depressed son a rifle for Christmas. It was the same rifle that his older brother had used to kill himself. I am not a psychiatrist, but just knowing what the Crumbleys have done, I wouldn't hesitate to label them sociopaths.

If the Crumbleys are indeed prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned for a very long time, then it *may* be the start of a move to enforce safe storage laws nationally. It worked with drunk driving laws, but that was another time. And many states don't have safe storage laws at all. And in states that do, if a child dies and a parent is the gun owner, the parent is often not prosecuted at all, because "they've suffered enough already."

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Susan Campbell's avatar

I am for. Between looking at prison as the culprits suffering, or protecting the rest of us from future mayhem.

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Sharon Foster (CT)'s avatar

And protecting other children, either their own or relatives or others in their orbit.

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Christopher Tracy's avatar

Their son wrote “HELP ME” on one of the notes that drew attention; their lawyer said at the arraignment that they were “afraid”.

And much as I can feel pity for a fifteen year old raised by these monsters, it’s reminiscent of young Kyle Rittenhouse, and Horned Man et al:

Where is their sympathy for Hana, Madyson, Tate & Justin, or Joseph, Anthony & Gaige, or for Officers Sicknick, Liebengood, Smith, Sharing Grant’s song in memory of Officers Sicknick, Liebengood, Smith, deFreytag, Hashida and the other 140 US Capitol & DC Metro Police Officers injured, maimed and traumatized last January 6th, or the Veep, Legislators, Staff, Interns and Family Members put in harm’s way?

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Deacon Art's avatar

Empty

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Dec 6, 2021
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Susan Campbell's avatar

I think you're right: Too many elements in this imperfect storm.

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