US mother charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Many Americans take their children to the practice range. Their obsession with the right to bare arms is incomprehensible to us

My immediate reaction was "poor woman" but having read more details I'm not sure. She refused to take her child's problems seriously. There are so many things that could have helped prevent this tragedy. I think she has to take some responsibility.
Unfortunately the gun culture which contributed won't take any. Surely it should be possible to pass an act which required households with children to keep guns in secure places where they can't get them. That can't be against the constitution can it?

apnews.com/article/oxford-high-school-shooting-parents-charged-47cdcdca2fbe801fb521d77caafcae45

I'm American and I'm against private citizens owning guns. Unless they are hunters, I see no need, and the statistics show owning a gun for "protection " is more likely to raise the odds of your death by gun violence than to prevent it. As a mother and grand, our outdated constitution needs a serious amendment. These days we have to balance fear with desire to go to concerts, school, malls; anywhere. The rapid spread of information and connections we enjoy these days through the internet has also birthed a lot of hopeless culture for mass shootings, giving a roadmap or guide of sorts. Not all of America loves guns. All we need to do is look at other countries where it's working, and let go of pride.

yahmeus.i started to write more about but you said for me

I don't think there is any debate to be had.

The parents were negligent by facilitating gun ownership, not storing them correctly, ignoring please for help and witholding information from the school.

They are guilty by proxy and deserve everything coming their way.

Totally appropriate!! There are too many delinquent parents out there raising kids with mental health problems.

Parents are supposed to be responsible. Unfortunately Ms Crumbly is now going to be the poster person on how your life will end up if you don’t pay attention to your child.

She and her husband - WHY did they think buying their 17 yr old an assault rifle was a good thing?
USA Gundy

I think this is only right.

Surely parents everywhere are responsible for their children's behaviour until such time as the "child" legally becomes an adult?

Whether the child in question is mentally disturbed or not, is completely beside the point.

The mother bought a gun, gave it to her son, and apparently made no effort to find out what he wanted to use it for.

Can any sane person see the reasoning behind this?

What happens if the child shoots his parents?

Would he/she/they be able to blame the parents?

grandetanteJE65 I think a parent's responsibility for a child has limits, if the child is doing things that it would be very difficult for a parent to know about. Activity online, for example, which could be of an unsuitable type .

You also need to take into account cultural issues. In the USA, it is quite normal for parents to buy, quite young children guns and no one sees anything problematic about this. Nothing the parents did in buying a gun for a child that age was exceptional.

What made this case a court case was that the child had mental problems and he had told his parents about them and there were ongoing problems at school. And, even in the USA, it is considered unacceptable to give a gun to someone who is mentally unstable. His parents knew this (though obviously they are denying it) - and still bought him a gun. This is why they have been charged.

For Louella -- whatever you saw, and the mother may have said in evidence, the prosecution had soc media evidence saying "look at the lovely present" -- and there was the gun in question.

Parents were also well aware of the boy's 'issues', hence the prosecution (with dad's scheduled soon). As several have said, good for them, maybe it will deter a few other barmpots over there.

Somebody raised their oddball 2nd Amendment (made sense in the 1700s and 1800s), and "should be changed"? Well, quite so, but it's in their DNA now, with swift squawks about "our rights" if someone suggests change. 15 years ago the Supreme Court said that criminals and the mentally ill had no such 2nd amendment rights, but they cannot even sort out the legislation for that.

In 2017 the Las Vegas massacre saw 60 or deaths, hundreds wounded, via a maniac shooting into a crowd. Chump, when asked, said they were "looking at" arms control laws. All he actually looked at was his postbox, to check when the next fat cheque appeared from the NRA.

The States over there all have slightly different gun laws (madness -- like a few counties here saying you can drive a car at 14?) -- and when told that say Japan has hardly any gun deaths, likely because it's almost impossible to get a legal gun, they say all our crims have a gun, I want one too.

There is also the definite feeling in the majority white population that almost all the problem with guns is due to Afro-Caribbeans and the drug or criminal 'culture'. This conveniently overlooks that most of the school and college mass slayings are by whites! As somebody on here said, the problem won't be getting better anytime soon!

Louella12

What happens if the child shoots his parents?

Would he/she/they be able to blame the parents?

Well, when they do, they usually do, any way, anywhere (including the UK)