This would have been much better resolved if there had been a good guy with a gun to shoot the boy dead instead of understanding parents who could disarm the boy peacefully and without injury.
And, in case anyone needs it, /s.
Davis School District spokesman Chris Williams praised the parents, saying “It’s all of our jobs to keep kids safe.”
I dunno. If I’m the parent of a kid at the school, I don’t think I’d praise the parents who allowed a situation where their son could get the guns to bring to school and threaten my kid.
I guess I’m just old fashioned that way.
When, if ever will this madness end? Editorial in today’s NY Times discussing the NRA’s intent to renew a campaign for a national concealed carry law. In the most recent year for which we have data, nearly 33,000 Americans were killed by guns. The vast majority of these were due to suicides and accidental discharge. Statistically, there are 1.12 privately owned guns for every man, woman, and child in the U.S. That totals more than 328 million guns, and these are concentrated in approximately 36% of American households. Why do we need all this firepower, particularly when it too often falls into the hands of the deranged, despondent, or in this case, a clearly troubled teenager? This is cultural insanity!
To keep the Tree of Liberty watered with Freedom Blood, duh. You never know when the tyrannical government, with its APCs, tanks, A-10s, Special Forces, etc. might come to take your 5.57 semi-auto rifle and you’ll need to fight them off. Better carry a pistol at all times, just in case. Also, thugs. Lots of thugs around every corner waiting to take your wife and rape your wallet while you’re just walking down the Inner City street!
In case a Black person is ever president again, or a woman, or someone who believes in LGBT rights and marriage, so the Second Amendment absolutists can do their weekend militia thing and occupy federal lands and fantasize about taking down the democratically elected government. Which is the true original intent of the Founders and the Second Amendment. Allegedly…
Well how are kids supposed to learn that guns are dangerous if they’re not allowed to kill anyone?
More guns is definitely the solution.
Good. Parents were alert to their kid’s state and acted. Putting aside the theology of guns, I don’t think one could ask much more of parents in that situation.
Thanks, TPM, for posting this article. It is, to me, a hopeful sign.
No problem - the “troubled” teenage kid can go buy a gun via the internet or at any one of several gun shows. Only legitimate gun stores are required to obtain background checks. It’s like anyone can buy and drive a car and no license and no title and no registration is required. It is very very easy to get a gun in the US. Thank you NRA and idiot Republicans who barely know which end to aim to begin with.
Silly man it was a white kid, shooting white folks with a gun is always the last resort!
You got a point!
I think we need more of the story before condemning the parents.
Perhaps the kid slipped sleeping pills into his parents’ juice, removed the keys to the gun case from his father’s keychain, removed the two weapons, then climbed the ladder to the attic where the bullets were kept in a second locked safe, used the father’s key there again, and loaded up.
Or perhaps the shotgun sits next to the front door and the handgun on a hook next to the kid’s winter jacket and galoshes and they noticed they were missing when they went to grab them so they could keep themselves safe while roaming the wild streets of Bountiful.
I’d guess the reality is probably closer to the latter, and thus the parents should be penalized for their carelessness and thankful they were able to keep from having blood on their hands. But until we have more data we shouldn’t assume the worst.
Ok, someone make the case this kid shouldn’t see the light of day until he’s been locked up for at least ten years and subjected to intense psychological therapy. The most unfortunate aspect of this event was not having a school security officer happen upon him as he was brandishing a firearm in each hand and dropping the kid with a round between the eyes where he stood. Mark it, nothing good will come of this boy, and people down the road will suffer for his continued breathing.
Um, maybe they could have locked up their guns where their “troubled” son couldn’t get them? Or maybe they could not have had any guns in the house at all? Is Bountiful an especially lawless, dangerous area? The parents created this situation.
BOUNTIFUL, Utah (AP) — Police said two fast-acting Utah parents disarmed their own 15-year-old son in the hallway of a Utah middle school…
Ross said the parents confronted their son in a school hallway and disarmed him…
"Police recovered a handgun and a shotgun from the student, "Ross said.
???