School shootings and parental accountability

By David W. Marshall
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

This time it occurred in Winder, Georgia. Another school shooting with an assault-style rifle, more “thoughts and prayers” and another traumatized community.

A 14-year-old student is now charged with murder in the killing of two of his fellow students along with two teachers. According to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University, the attack was the 30th mass killing in the United States so far this year. Unfortunately, America’s gun culture pits one individual right against another. The right to bear arms versus the right to life.

The two should never be in conflict with one another. One would think the choice is clear with the right to life always being our main concern. Our nation, given its easy access to guns has developed an unhealthy love for them. The United States is the only nation in the world where civilian guns outnumber people. There are 120 guns for every 100 Americans, according to the Switzerland based Small Arms survey (SAS). In 2019, the number of U.S. deaths from gun violence was about 4 per 100,000 people which is 18 times the average rate in other developed nations. A contributing factor is the easy access to guns mixed with the irresponsibility of gun owners.

Many people pride themselves as defenders of American values. As part of those values, it means every person throughout our diverse nation has the right to life and liberty. They also have the right to have justice properly served. As we coexist as one people, our Pledge of Allegiance defines who we are when it refers to “one nation, indivisible (unable to divide or separate), with liberty and justice for all”.

Liberty is interesting. It is defined as the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed on one’s life. It can be described as the freedom to live your life the way you want without interference from others. Or simply the power to do as one pleases. We cannot automatically assume that an individual, once given the freedom to do as he pleases, will do so responsibly and with a sense of community. Liberty is a personal right, but liberty should not result in being rude, offensive, selfish and especially deadly to others.

While the Winder shooting resulted in four people killed and another nine hospitalized with injuries, the political rhetoric still remains along partisan lines. JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, stated school shootings had “become a fact of life” in the U.S. To imply that the dozens of school shootings in our nation is a fact of life that cannot be avoided becomes hard to accept from a U.S. senator whose party is in position to do something meaningful about it through protective legislation. It has now become a matter of political accountability.

The endless number of mass shootings may not be a “fact of life” if lawmakers from both parties responsibly did their jobs. The same is true with parents. The negligence of parents within the household can no longer be ignored. Fortunately, the courts are now taking a closer look at the issue of parental accountability. It is rare for parents of shooting suspects to be charges with crimes, but prosecutors are now willing to hold parents responsible in connection with their child’s mass school shooting.

In the 2021 landmark case in Oxford, Michigan, where a 15- year- old committed a mass shooting at his high school, it was the first time in the U.S. that parents were charged and convicted in connection with their child’s school shooting rampage. In separate trials, prosecutors convinced juries that the parents repeatedly ignored warning signs that a “reasonable person” would have recognized, including their son’s deteriorating mental health and social isolation, and that they could have done more to prevent their son from gaining access to a weapon.

Ultimately, it was determined that they both failed in their legal responsibilities to help prevent the shooting, therefore the community paid a deadly price. The parents, who were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter, had purchased a semiautomatic handgun for their 15-year-old son as an early Christmas present.

Georgia authorities are following suit in testing the limits of parental blame. The father of the shooter in connection with the Winder shooting was arrested along with his son. According to arrest warrants, the father faces murder and manslaughter charges and is accused of allowing his son to have access to the military-style rifle used in the shooting despite knowing “he was a threat to himself and others”. The gun, an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, was a Christmas present from the father to the son in 2023.

Every person has right to bear arms, but in doing so they must also maintain the parental responsibility that comes with gun ownership. We cannot assume that parents will make the right decisions when there are warning signs present concerning their children and the safety of the general public. People have the right to bear arms, but the public has a right to life. Military assault weapons are now the gun of choice for teenager who want to be copycat mass shooters. When lawmakers seek to ban assault-style rifles, more background checks and other gun safety measures, it is a response to a public safety crisis rather than an attack on the second amendment. Exercising liberty should never result in the shooting rampage in schools. Prosecutors have recognized the problem by holding parents accountable. The killing of school children should never be accepted as an American “fact of life.”

This article originally published in the September 16, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.