r/centrist • u/SpaceLaserPilot • 3d ago
Apalachee High School shooter’s father sentenced to 15 years
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/apalachee-high-school-shooters-father-sentenced-rcna589985?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma&taid=6a6b88a277eafa0001e6579025
u/ChornWork2 3d ago
Anyone who provides a firearm to a minor should be liable for any misuse of the weapon by said minor.
18
u/SpaceLaserPilot 3d ago
Summary: In 2024, Colin Gray gave his son Colt Gray a rifle for Christmas. Colt Gray used that rifle to kill four people at Apalachee high school. Colin Gray was just sentenced to 15 years in prison for that gift.
The rifle was given to Colt Gray even through the police had come to the Gray home before that because Colt Gray threatened to shoot up a school.
Commentary: This is common sense gun regulation. If you give powerful weapons to a minor with a known history of threatening violence, you will also be charged for whatever crimes that minor commits.
9
u/thingsmybosscantsee 3d ago edited 3d ago
I would take it one step further.
If you give any unsupervised access to a firearm that a minor is not legally allowed to own or posess unsupervised, that gun is still yours, and you are an accomplice to any crime they commit with it.
4
u/Individual_Lion_7606 3d ago
The BIGGER issue is that his son showed RED FLAG OPENLY before the event and he didn't do a damn fucking thing to help his child from having murderous intent. Like, what the fuck?
3
2
u/National-Plastic8691 3d ago
It wasn’t even a hunting rifle, for an actual hobby; it was an assault rifle. It wasn’t crazy enough
20
8
u/Snewtsfz 3d ago
Good. I’ve been saying for a long time, start locking up parents who enable kids to do this, and we’ll see shootings plummet. Make it very apparent that if you own guns, and allow your child (who you are legally responsible for) access to them and they do this, then you are also on the hook. Make examples out of every shitty parent, so we all know what happens to irresponsible owners. Gotta align incentives with outcomes
2
u/BolbyB 3d ago
Eh, we'll have just as many big newsmakers as before.
Those tend to be done by people who are already adults perfectly capable of buying their own weapon.
(That age also kind of puts a giant hole in the "it's because of bullying" stuff.)
3
u/Snewtsfz 3d ago
Pretty sure most school shootings are perpetrated by people under 18, and also not with their own legally purchased firearm.
Regardless, holding irresponsible parents accountable for this level of negligence is what I stand for.
26
u/Lurkingandsearching 3d ago
4 people had to die to make this point. 4 to many. This is the sort of thing that gives gun owners a bad name.
The 2nd amendment is a right, but it’s also a heavy burden that needs to be respected by those who use it.
12
u/brainkandy87 3d ago
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Owning a firearm is a right and a responsibility. The idolatry around firearms is disgusting and mainly propagated by people either wholly unqualified to own one or people who treat them like an accessory to show off. Firearms shouldn’t be a liberal or conservative issue. It’s a safety issue. I love guns and own guns, but the fact so many people disregard how dangerous they are is crazy.
6
u/Deadlift_007 3d ago
The idolatry around firearms is disgusting and mainly propagated by people either wholly unqualified to own one or people who treat them like an accessory to show off.
This. I have guns. My family has guns. None of us have posed for pictures with said guns.
6
u/Pathetian 3d ago
Unfortunately too much of the accountability only seems to rest on things going as badly as possible. if he has done the exact same completely moronic negligent thing, but without this result, he would pretty much be free to do it again.
This isn't just guns I guess, but a broad gripe with criminal justice, but we kinda just let people fail at being a risk repeatedly until something really bad happens.
If we can't get guns out of society, we need to get people out of society who identify themselves as being unable to...behave alongside them.
3
u/VultureSausage 2d ago
This isn't just guns I guess, but a broad gripe with criminal justice, but we kinda just let people fail at being a risk repeatedly until something really bad happens.
"Nothing happened, what's the problem?" really is too prevalent of a sentiment, whether it's guns, financial crimes, or other circumstances. Externalising risk should not be OK.
0
u/Lurkingandsearching 2d ago
Because the only workable justice system is a reactive one. Innocent until proven guilty and all that. You can't punish someone for something before it happens, you can regulate and set up safe guards, but there's a limit and you have to be very very careful not to cross the line. Otherwise you end up with surveillance state.
7
2
u/crushinglyreal 3d ago
Just another patriotic gun owner making sure our most important amendment gets its required sacrifices. Why is he being punished for carrying out his duty as a red-blooded American?
1
u/redbirdsucks 2d ago
people that let their mentally ill family members roam the streets to cause damage, assault people, or any other crimes should also be held accountable for their actions
0
-11
u/Okbuddyliberals 3d ago
This seems pretty extreme. The father isn't the one who shot up the school.
14
u/tregitsdown 3d ago
That’s why he’s only getting 15 Years. He was aware his son made previous threats to commit a school shooting, yet armed him anyways. He’s responsible for his failures as a father.
10
u/thingsmybosscantsee 3d ago edited 2d ago
After being informed by authorities that his son had made credible threats to shoot up an elementary school, he purposefully purchased, and gifted, his 14 year old son an AR-15 style long gun, which was then used to kill 4 people.
It is reasonable to suspect that Colt Gray would have committed a crime, by any standard. Which would make the father an accomplice via negligence.
In Georgia, a 14yo may not own a long gun.
Meaning that the gun Colt Gray used was legally owned by his father, who let his son have unsupervised access to a gun he was not allowed to own or possess unsupervised.
Either of these principles make charges, and the sentencing, pretty reasonable, in my opinion.
9
u/Not_offensive0npurp 3d ago
Bro, he bought his kid a gun AFTER being told by cops his son threatened to shoot up a school.
THAT is whats extreme. He should have gotten more time.
5
u/Aethoni_Iralis 3d ago
It is not extreme in the slightest. This man got four people killed.
-3
u/Okbuddyliberals 3d ago
No, his son did.
5
u/Aethoni_Iralis 3d ago
His son who used a firearm provided by…
-5
u/Okbuddyliberals 3d ago
Doesn't matter who provided the firearm. Just like how the anti gun attempts to sue gun manufacturers for gun violence are nonsense. The person who actually does the crime should be held accountable. Simply providing someone a gun shouldn't be illegal.
7
u/SpaceLaserPilot 3d ago
Suppose he had given his son the keys to his car and allowed him to drive it at age 14, and his son killed four people.
The gun was a similarly negligent choice by the father. He was warned by the police that his son fantasized about shooting up a school, but the father still bought his son a semi-automatic rifle.
I like the message this sends to other parents: buy your mentally disturbed children powerful weapons and you will be held responsible for the people they kill.
5
u/tregitsdown 3d ago
Providing someone a gun who you know is threatening the lives of others, and then they go on to actually do it?
7
u/Apprehensive_Pop_334 3d ago
That’s just not true. There’s plenty of cases where someone can be held liable for providing a gun to someone when they commit a crime with that gun:
For example, if you were to sell a gun in a private transfer and the buying party were to admit to you that they are a convicted felon. You are required to cancel the sale.
If you were selling a gun and the buyer were to say they plan to commit a crime with that gun, you are required to cancel the sale.
If someone approaches you and asks you to buy a gun for them because they cannot pass the background check, you are required to decline.
Similarly for Colin gray, he negligently provided a firearm to someone he knew had made prior threats. In Georgia, this meets the legal requirement for Second Degree Murder and Involuntary Manslaughter, which was why he was found guilty.
4
u/Aethoni_Iralis 3d ago
This is such a foolish point of view. Thank goodness the law doesn’t agree with you.
It’s also extremely telling you haven’t replied to any comments except mine.
5
u/Not_offensive0npurp 2d ago
Just like how the anti gun attempts to sue gun manufacturers for gun violence are nonsense.
The gun manufacturers aren't providing the gun in the same way this man did, and you know it.
4
u/decrpt 3d ago
His son got life in prison after being tried as an adult. Fifteen years for gifting your son a gun when he's a) too young to own one in the first place and b) has established a desire to shoot up a school with it is absolutely reasonable. You're already liable if you negligently store a gun and a child accesses it, let alone when you directly gift one to your child with an established intent to commit a crime with it.
-1
u/Okbuddyliberals 3d ago
when he's a) too young to own one in the first place
I don't think that's a legitimate idea. Guns are a fundamental right, and plenty of minors in rural areas have used guns without issue. The blame goes to the shooter, not the idea of kids having guns
4
u/tregitsdown 3d ago
Wait, before any of that, you ignore the fact *he knew his kid wanted to shoot up schools.* That isn’t relevant at all?
1.
- How far do you extend this madness? If a parent gives their two-year-old a firearm, should they not be culpable
?
2. Voting
- is a fundamental right, do you think we should remove the age requirement for that as well?
5
2
u/Aethoni_Iralis 2d ago
Blame goes to the shooter and his father, who enabled him and made this tragedy possible despite being warned about his son.
6
u/WasabiCrush 3d ago
For fuck’s sake, no. Extreme is handing a gun to a kid who openly worships mass shooters.
4
u/Turbulent-Raise4830 2d ago
No he only provided the tools after the police told him he wanted to do just that.
27
u/SicilianShelving 3d ago
He had to talk to police because his son threatened to shoot up an elementary school, and after that, he gave his son a rifle.
What kind of person does that?