Who’s idea was it to go after the parents? The Oxford shooter’s parents got 10 years in prison. Parents in Texas are defendants in a civil suit for property damage from the 2018 school shooting in Santa Fe. Now the Georgia dad is in jail charged with second degree murder. The Parkland shooter’s mom abandoned him. The Sandy Hook shooter murdered his mother and the Uvalde shooter’s mom bailed years earlier.
I think it is bananas to charge parents with murder because they owned and/or purchased guns for their kids, didn’t know the severity of their kids’ struggles and didn’t know that their kids were planning to attack a school. How many parents buy guns for their kids? How many parents don’t know what is going on with their teenage children? How many parents are unaware of their kids’ drug use, criminal activity, suicide attempts?
Go on any social media platform and see kids as young as 7 years old with guns that are nearly the same size as they are, standing next to proud parents. We are a gun toting, flag waving, stand your ground country. Until that changes, expect more of the same.
I am neutral on second amendment issues. If you like guns, have them, have as many as you like. If you don’t like them, don’t have them. When a person who isn’t supposed to have one has one and does something terrible, what is the fascination with blaming anyone or anything other than the person with a gun who isn’t supposed to have a gun but gets a gun and does the terrible thing?
Accountability. Someone must be accountable. But not the person who is actually accountable. Why? If anyone is accountable other than the shooter, it is everyone, collectively. How many shooters were reported to the FBI? How many school personnel knew these kids were struggling? How many people pay attention to anything other than what is on their screen?
It seems to me that parents have the fewest resources. They are the most vulnerable. They do not have public support, staff attorneys, PR teams, a network of politicians, judges, journalists and donors to support them. Parents are a red herring, a trojan horse, a bright shiny object to distract us and it has been successful.
It makes me sad that there is no empathy for parents of the shooters. They are grieving. Imagine what that might be like for a parent of a child that committed mass murder of other children and has caused so much pain and harm in your own community. Parents don’t need to be vilified. One of the Columbine moms did a Ted Talk. Her story is important. I recommend watching it.