[News] Parents of the year

[portlock seagull]

I mean, when your teenage son is mentally unwell do you really think it would help matters by purchasing him a semi automatic handgun?

Words fail. They really do. What? Why? How?!! How on earth are you even allowed to give him one, never mind what then transpired because of your idiocy?

Ethan Crumbley: Parents of Michigan school gunman sentenced to at least 10 years

The parents of Ethan Crumbley, a Michigan school shooter, were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Triggaaar]

Wouldn't have happened if all the dead children had been carrying guns and had been trained to use them by decent America patriots. We need more guns!

 

[The Clamp]

More to the point, what are semi automatic weapons being sold to anyone outside of military or law enforcement?

 

[Clive Walker]

The country is backwards

 

[maltaseagull]

Completely agree with sentences for the parents but the school allowed the killer back in class without checking his backpack which contained the weapon.
Aren't they also to blame?

 

[Stat Brother]

More to the point, what are semi automatic weapons being sold to anyone outside of military or law enforcement?

Because for all you know the deer fawn might have idiot parents as well.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

The country is backwards

Indeed. I'm currently in a resort of which about 80% are Americans. Most don't even know how to eat properly - i.e. use cutlery and keep their mouth closed when eating. Don't even get me started on them not understanding the terms 'please' and 'thank you' - pretty dumb, rude and arrogant nation. There are of course exceptions.

 

[Gabbafella]

I'm not sure I'm shocked by America anymore. The gun laws will never change, their arrogance and out of date policies on the right to own guns will mean this kind of thing will always be in the news.
Thoughts and prayers people, thoughts and prayers.

 

[Stat Brother]

I'm not sure I'm shocked by America anymore. The gun laws will never change

Probably not but this might just be a better way of going about it.
Got to wonder about a defence of 'there's no legal precedent for this' - well there is now.

It's a shame The NRA are so imbedded in America politics, as going after the industry would be another good work around.

 

[tedebear]

Completely agree with sentences for the parents but the school allowed the killer back in class without checking his backpack which contained the weapon.
Aren't they also to blame?

This is what I was wondering. Its correct the parents were convicted for knowing and seeing several worrying events and not doing anything akin to being complicit, but surely the school failed on their security checks too, someone there could have stopped it if they just searched his bag....

 

[Triggaaar]

More to the point, what are semi automatic weapons being sold to anyone outside of military or law enforcement?

What? How dare you question the right of Americans to buy automatic weapons!

 

[Triggaaar]

Completely agree with sentences for the parents but the school allowed the killer back in class without checking his backpack which contained the weapon.
Aren't they also to blame?

Why were they supposed to check his backpack? The schools my kids go to don't check their bags.

 

[Triggaaar]

Its correct the parents were convicted for knowing and seeing several worrying events and not doing anything akin to being complicit

They didn't just see worrying events, they also then bought him an automatic weapon (which he had constant access to)! The school didn't buy it for him.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Why were they supposed to check his backpack? The schools my kids go to don't check their bags.

Yes. Blaming the school is a handy distraction.

The blame should be shared between the parents and everyone who has contributed to upholding their ridiculous gun laws

 

[tedebear]

Why were they supposed to check his backpack? The schools my kids go to don't check their bags.

The school had called the parents in that morning following a drawing that morning he did with a bleeding body and a gun. The school didn't ask about access to guns and the parents didn't mention it in this meeting. He had his back pack with him at all times during the meeting, in it was the gun, ammo and a journal full of drawings of shootings at the school. The meeting ended and he went back to class, and an hour later the shooting started.

In that specific instance, yes I think they should have checked his backpack or at the very least asked about access to weapons.

 

[Triggaaar]

The school had called the parents in that morning following a drawing that morning he did with a bleeding body and a gun. The school didn't ask about access to guns and the parents didn't mention it in this meeting. He had his back pack with him at all times during the meeting, in it was the gun, ammo and a journal full of drawings of shootings at the school. The meeting ended and he went back to class, and an hour later the shooting started.

In that specific instance, yes I think they should have checked his backpack or at the very least asked about access to weapons.

Yes, asking about access to guns would have been a good idea (do we know they didn't, I don't know). But not thinking to ask a question is nothing like actually buying him a gun.

 

[tedebear]

Yes, asking about access to guns would have been a good idea (do we know they didn't, I don't know). But not thinking to ask a question is nothing like actually buying him a gun.

Its been published in a post event independant review that they didn't, and given the parents bought the gun and gave it to him, the fact they were sitting there talking about the picture he'd drawn that morning of shooting, really should have rung some bells with some of them.

Multiple missed opportunities.

 

[rippleman]

Americans are complete idiots when it comes to kids and guns.

My good friends 16 year old grandson had been exposed to guns from an early age and had already inherited a collection of hunting rifles. He asked his mum to get him a handgun, which she did. He was showing off to his girlfriend but had forgotten he had left one "up the spout". Blew his head off in front of her.

Such a sad, tragic end to the life of a lovely lad.

But they will never learn. These kinds of killings won't ever stop unless the penny drops that the answer to every question is not "buy a gun". But with Trump seemingly headed back to the White House, things are only likely to get much, much worse.

 

[rippleman]

To be fair, the US court in this case did not accept the "mental health" card played by the murderer. They banged him up for life without parole (equivalent to our "whole life tariff"). Compare and contrast to the killer of the two young kids and school caretaker in Nottingham who got himself a cushy hospital order (at over 6 times the annual cost of banging him up in a Cat A for murder)

 

[maltaseagull]

Why were they supposed to check his backpack? The schools my kids go to don't check their bags.

How many kids in the UK are involved in mass shootings?

"On the day of the shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan, the Crumbleys cut short a school meeting about a disturbing drawing their son had made, instead opting to go to work and not take him home.

School staff later sent him back to class without checking his backpack, which contained the gun his parents had purchased.

An independent investigation published last year alleged multiple failures from the school system, including the decision to allow Ethan to return to class.

In response, the school district has pledged to review and improve its practices and policies."