Responsibility and Guns

Saw this article on Tulsa World.

Here's a basic summary; a 13 year old kid accidentally fires a gun into a wall at his own home. He accidentally kills his mother. The district attorney decides to bring him up on charges of "reckless conduct with a firearm". Per the same article, his father says "I've spent seven months telling him he did nothing wrong, and now you're putting charges against him like he did something wrong."

Ok, now that we're all caught up:

There's the old "he's 13 thing", where some people don't like to prosecute a 13 year old. I found the uproar slightly ironic since many seem to want this 13 white male free of charges, while it's seemingly perfectly fine that a 14 year old black girl could be in prison for life. Sure the circumstances of each case are slightly different but if we aren't going to prosecute a bunch of kids, we should probably make a rule saying exactly that.

Making things even slightly more odd, the 13 year old kid is actually getting a break. If I, being 37 years old, accidentally fired a weapon through my wall and killed someone, not only would I be brought up on charges of "reckless conduct with a firearm", I'd also be charged with "Negligent Homicide" or "Manslaughter." Possibly even "3rd Degree Murder" if intent to fire that weapon could be proven. I'd likely serve some hard time for that. If they find this kid guilty of "reckless conduct", his father will pay a fine. There might even be some counseling involved.

The third thing that caught my attention here, was the father's assertion that his child "did nothing wrong." Perhaps that is the problem in the first place. Perhaps this child was fully aware that if he accidentally discharged a firearm in his own garage, daddy would come to his rescue. The best thing this father can do is shut up, pay the price, and try his best to put his family back together.

I'm not advocating the prosecution of a 13 year old. In this age, and in the state of Oklahoma, prosecuting a kid is nothing new. It's a sad story, and I feel for all those involved and everyone that knows them. However, someone should be taking responsibility here; either the 13 year old kid, or his father. They'll both paying for the rest of their life in ways, but there is also an unfortunate criminal aspect to this. Time to pay up, and move on.