The decision to arrest the father of a 14-year-old boy accused of killing four people at a high school in the US state of Georgia has sparked wider debate in the US about gun control and whether parents can be held accountable for their child’s actions.
Colt Gray, 14, was charged with four counts of murder after the death of two teachers and two students in Wednesday’s shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.
His father, Colin Gray, 54, is also facing four charges directly connected to his son’s actions and “allowing him to possess a weapon”, Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) director Chris Hosey said on Thursday.
Gray faces charges of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children, said the GBI. If found guilty, he faces up to 180 years in prison.
Authorities are also investigating whether Gray bought the AR-style weapon as a gift for his son in December 2023, law enforcement sources told CBS News.
According to US media reports, Colt Gray had been previously interviewed by police after online threats about a school shooting were made in May 2023. His father told police he had guns in the house, but his son did not have unsupervised access to them, the FBI said on Wednesday.
The decision to charge Gray follows a judicial precedent set earlier this year that may see more parents being held liable for the actions of teenage shooters.
Relatives of victims at the Barrow County Courthouse, where a bond hearing was held for school shooting suspect Colt Gray on 6 September 2024 in Winder, Georgia. (Photo: Adam Hagy/Getty Images)
In April, James and Jennifer Crumbley were both found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, and each sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison after separate trials. It marked the first time parents were convicted in a US school shooting after their teenage son Ethan killed four students in 2021 while in possession of a hand gun his parents had bought for him. He also received a life sentence.
In a highly unusual case, prosecutor Karen McDonald announced criminal charges called against the parents of the shooter, calling it a “new way of approaching school shooting”.
At the sentencing in April, Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews said: “These convictions are not about poor parenting… These convictions confirm repeated acts, or lack of acts, that could have halted an oncoming runaway train.”
The sentence was heralded by gun safety groups as setting a deterrent that could lead to parents keeping their guns out of the reach of children.
Dr Jamein P Cunningham, an assistant professor of law at the University of Texas, told i: “Concerns about holding parents accountable for the criminal acts of their children are valid.
“The initial charges against Colin Gray also include second-degree murder, which carries a relatively high legal threshold, as it generally involves some form of intent, though not necessarily premeditation.”
But he added: “There is a legal precedent for holding parents accountable for negligence.”
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The Georgia shooting is the 385th mass shooting that has taken place across the US this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, who estimates the number of mass shootings averages more than 1.5 every day.
With gun control legislation heavily politicised in the US, prosecutors are seeking new legal avenues to curtail the threats of school shootings, sparking a debate among legal scholars as to whether parents should be held accountable for the actions of teenage shooters.
Nicholas Suplina, the senior vice president for law and policy at campaign group Everytown for Gun Safety, said the convictions could serve to make sure parents securely store their weapons.
“These verdicts send a clear message: first, that secure responsible firearm storage can save lives,” Suplina said in a video posted on social media in March. “And second, that there will be accountability where people fail to act responsibly. Hopefully, it will help prevent future tragedies.”
A study from Everytown found that 74 per cent of school shooters acquired the firearm they used in their attack at home.
However, concerns have been raised that such an approach could see parents pressured into plea bargains, or held liable for state failures to provide adequate mental health support for teenage school shooters.
Lea Johnston, professor of law at the University of Florida, told i: “One of my fears is that prosecuting the parents of shooters ignores root causes. Marginalised and working class communities in America experience tremendous difficulty accessing mental health care.
“It is highly unlikely that a robust community mental health network exists near the site of this most recent school shooting. We’ll never know whether an intervention by a mental health care provider could have prevented this tragedy.”
Other critics say the prosecution of parents fails to address the root cause of the issue. Everytown for Gun Safety ranks Georgia as number 46 of 50 in terms of the strength of its gun laws, describing the state’s policies as “some of the weakest” in the nation.
According to the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, adults in Georgia don’t need a permit to buy rifles, shotguns, or handguns; don’t need to register their guns with the government; and don’t need a permit to carry rifles and shotguns.
“After decades of inaction, Republicans in Congress must finally say enough is enough and work with Democrats to pass common-sense gun safety legislation,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement. “We must ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines once again, require safe storage of firearms, enact universal background checks, and end immunity for gun manufacturers.”
While Democrats call for tighter gun laws, experts say the prosecution of parents is a step towards keeping guns out of the hands of children.
Zachary D. Kaufman, a professor of law at the University of Florida, told i: “If parents play a direct role in their children’s crimes, then they should be held accountable.
“Doing so is rare in mass shooting cases, so it’s still too early [to] know whether such prosecutions and convictions will promote deterrence or be applied.”
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Publish date : 2024-09-06 05:46:00
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