He was a 12-year-old boy accused of inexplicably killing his parents and injuring his siblings — a nearly unprecedented crime so disturbing that no one had an easy answer for what should happen to him. In the end, it was a psychological evaluation indicating that the boy's maturity level was unusually low that led 13th Judicial District Attorney Bob Watson to offer a deal. Under a plea agreement announced Friday, the Burlington boy will remain in juvenile detention for seven years — the maximum sentence possible.Where did a 12-year-old kid get a gun? You can accuse me of blaming the parents, fine because that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm blaming the parents and the uncle and the entire Colorado gun culture. They're the ones making access to guns so simple and continually preaching the utility of them. Then when a mentally challenged kid does something wrong, only he's to blame. That's not right.
Also wrong is the idea that this is an "unprecedented crime so disturbing that no one had an easy answer for what should happen to him." Sure if you say "killing both parents with a gun and wounding both siblings with a knife" is really rare, I guess you've got a point. But young kids getting the gun and shooting the parents with it is almost as common as all the other gun abuse we read about. And you know where it happens, in gun friendly states. There's another coincidence for you.
Last January a Missouri 12-year-old killed his parents. Of course the law and order types wanted to try him as an adult. I don't know if they succeeded.
Who can forget the New Mexico 10-year-old who shot and killed his father. That was a big story. The kid had been abused and at the tender age of ten knew how to handle it. Where do you think he learned that?
Perhaps the best of all was the Arizona 8-year-old, yes 8 years old he was, and initially charged with 1st degree murder.
Besides these there are countless cases which didn't end so dramatically, ones which don't make the national news. The problem is not kids gone wild, the problem is gun owners not securing their property and teaching their kids the wrong lessons about guns.
That's my opinion. What's yours? Please leave a comment.
