Something strange here!

I'd be looking at genetic father or new boyfriend as suspects .........with mom's complicity.

Many states already have laws that make it a crime to fail to prevent a child from getting and using a firearm to injure or kill someone, but punishment after the fact doesn't prevent the event. Only by drilling into people who own guns the importance of securing them can government do something proactively about unauthorized access by children.

Unfortunately there will always be stupid, negligent, careless, and irresponsible people out there.

This is one of those stories that doesn't sound true.

I've seen several similar comments about that story, and I agree that it sounds outrageous but we see outrageous stories in the news every day.

heaven forbid.

... because the punishment after the fact doesn't prevent the event?

Really?

I'm all fine with using the stick portion of the justice system to punish malum in se crimes, but that is not the only way to address this kind of problem.

Whenever something outrageous happens, we always see knee-jerk reactions on DU that suggest imposing more power over people - Make it a crime. If it's already a crime, make it more of a crime. When someone misuses something, take the freedom to have that thing away from all the people who didn't misuse it.

More government. More taxes. More power. But there are often alternatives that are cost-efficient, don't erode liberty, and are not exclusive of also having just punishments for acts that are inherently bad.

"I think the only realistic approach to preventing that kind of thing is education. Many states already have laws that make it a crime to fail to prevent a child from getting and using a firearm to injure or kill someone, but punishment after the fact doesn't prevent the event."

So there should be no punishment? Or were you merely pointing out the obvious - that punishment doesn't change the past. If the former, why? If the latter, why even bring it up?

That seems pretty obvious to me.

Nations that are serious about preventing gun crimes and gun injuries have strict regulation including regulation of how guns may be stored in homes. These regulations seem to work, and the countries that have these regulations have not, oddly enough, turned into fascist regimes out of the 1930s.

This is not solved by education. It is solved by regulation.

The real question wil be where did those teenagers get the guns, and why were they robbing and shooting in the first place. That situation resulted in loss of this child and the grief of his mother.