Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with Oakland County, Michigan, prosecutor Karen McDonald’s decision to charge the parents of the alleged perpetrator of the shooting at Oxford High School, there is one thing that loyal Ammoland readers should be able to agree on: These parents did the Second Amendment no favors.
Now, the accused shooter and his parents are innocent until proven guilty in the eyes of the law. There are varied opinions on whether the parents should be charged. Based on media reports, though, Second Amendment supporters need to acknowledge that these parents made Alec Baldwin look responsible when it came to firearms. That irresponsibility will hard our efforts to defend our Second Amendment rights in multiple ways.
For starters, you can bet some anti-Second Amendment extremists will, at the very least, push to enact background checks on ammunition. The accused shooter was allegedly caught searching for how to buy ammo online, and that along with the reported drawing of a school shooting isn’t just going to target online ammo sales.
The reported pattern of missed opportunities looks eerily like the one seen with Parkland, and which allowed that shooter to carry out a horrific act. We will likely see a new push for “red flag” laws as well, particularly the ones that Bloomberg pushes – which omit things like due process.
Can you blame people when they see the failure to decisively act? The reportedly blasé reaction the mom had to the report of her son’s online searching isn’t going to help our case against broad reporting options for those laws, either.
One other thing we might see pushed: Waiting periods. The gun used in this shooting was bought four days prior to theincident, per reports from the media. There are some objectively bad optics here – and it’s not being a “Fudd” to point those out.
The fact that the parents of the accused shooter are an exception to the general rule about the responsibility of those who exercise their Second Amendment rights is something Second Amendment supporters need to make clear. But we’re going to see a lot of social stigmatization result from this. Not to mention it will be harder to fight anti-gun policies in workplaces.
It really doesn’t matter that the school failed to act decisively, although reports indicate the school officials on that day had a chance to stop the shooting. When they have disturbing information, like a depiction of a school shooting, failing to search the backpack and locker of the student in question is mind-boggling. Letting said student return to class is sheer insanity.
Again, Second Amendment supporters can debate whether manslaughter, criminal negligence, or civil wrongful death suits are appropriate for the parents. They can debate how much of the blame falls on the schools for inaction and for poor policy. The legal system will address those questions.
But there is no denying that the parents of the accused Oxford High School shooter have handed anti-Second Amendment extremists a lot of ammunition to use against us as we work to preserve our Second Amendment rights via the ballot box at the federal, state, and local levels.