Parents have parental rights, and they also have parental responsibilities. One surely is to keep your guns, if you have them, locked up. Colin Gray didn’t do that. Instead, he gave his teenage son an AR-15 type weapon for Christmas in 2023. This was after the FBI had questioned father and son about online threats to shootup the boy’s school. The father insisted that he kept his hunting guns in a safe place, and the boy denied having any thought of harming anyone.
Georgia police arrested Colin Gray, the father of the 14-year-old boy who admitted bringing an assault weapon to school and murdering four people, including two students and two teachers. The father faces multiple charges that could land him in prison for life.
If police and courts make it customary and standard to hold parents accountable for their children, especially when they allow them to obtain deadly weapons, such expectations might have a deterrent effect.
Before Thursday’s announcement, the teen’s grandfather, Charles Polhamus, said he wanted Colin Gray charged along with his son.
“If he didn’t have a damn gun,” Polhamus said, “he wouldn’t have gone and killed anybody….”
The charges come just months after a mother and father in Michigan became the first parents of a school shooter ever convicted of involuntary manslaughter, a less severe crime than second-degree murder. Investigators found that, in November 2021, James and Jennifer Crumbley had bought their 15-year-old son a gun, didn’t lock it up and ignored blatant warning signs before he opened fire at Oxford High in Michigan, killing four students. In separate trials, each was found guilty and sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison, the maximum allowed.
Parental rights, parental responsibility.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
You said it, D: parental rights, parental responsibilities.
LikeLike
I’m amazed at how stupid some gun owners are. NO parent should give a child a gun, especially a 14 year old. Teenagers are not going to be responsible. [Many adults aren’t responsible. Look at the high number of people murdered by guns in the U.S.]
How many innocent adults and children are going to be killed before the Republicans realize that, “Many thoughts and prayers” doesn’t mean s**t.
Stop saying that all that is needed is more mental health services.
Other countries don’t have as many murders because they have serious protective gun laws. Guns do kill! I’m glad that this father is learning the hard way that he is responsible for the deaths of innocents.
LikeLike
When a “normal” Republican Christmas card morphs into an advertisement for the NRA, with every family member, including children, happily posing with the Weapon Du Jour, it would follow that “normal” Republican parents should now lead by example and purchase AR-15s for everyone. It’s what’s on Santa’s list. More guns, more tragedy, more tears, an endless parade of sanctioned death and a culture of violence. Not so shocking that the offender is a 14-year old boy. Kids posing and smiling with those guns look to be as young as 8. But no, families aren’t indoctrinating anyone, but watch out for those drag queens reading to kids. Who never hurt anyone.
LikeLike
It seems like Georgia is a state where any rich adult can hand out AR-15s to as many 14 year olds as he can find (along with ammunition) and tell them to have fun, and will face little, if any, criminal consequence.
Can parents serve grain alcohol and fruit punch to their kids for breakfast every day?
Can’t parents be prosecuted if they leave their 10 year old home alone and he starts a fire? (I thought I recall a NYT parent being prosecuted when she had to go to work). Or even prosecuted if they are free-range parents and leave their kids at a park alone. But they seem to bear little responsibility if they give their 14 year old an AR-15?
LikeLike
& as for drag queens: in the Orlando massacre, a drag queen helped stopped the shooter by attacking him with her spike heel.
So much for “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” as well as all the ranting, raving & hysteria about drag queens. That night, a drag queen was a hero(ine).
LikeLike
The second degree murder charge seems like overreach though.
LikeLike
So what should the charge be (and I’m not being snarky!)? I think even manslaughter is an overreach. Maybe “contributing to the delinquency of a minor” is more appropriate along with the enforcement of gun laws (if there are any in GA?).
LikeLike
Manslaughter seems at least potentially viable. It worked in Michigan, didn’t it?
Georgia’s second degree murder statute is for “when, in the commission of cruelty to children in the second degree, he or she causes the death of another human being irrespective of malice.” I’m no expert on GA law (or criminal law generally) but that sounds like it’s designed for situations where child abuse causes a child to die, allowing the state to prosecute the death as murder without having to show the abuser actually intended to kill the child. I could be wrong but I suspect not.
LikeLike
Gov. Kemp of Ga is a gun zealot
LikeLike
Personally, I don’t think military grade/style weaponry should be allowed to be in possession of gun enthusiasts or hunters. Unfortunately, after 9/11 and the militarization of police forces, more of these types of weapons were put into circulation and we now have a problem we can’t seem to solve.
I just don’t think that manslaughter charges against parents for a disturbed child’s actions is the way to go? Do we charge the parents if a kid takes the family car out, gets drunk (obtains the alcohol illegally) and crashes into another vehicle killing its occupants? I’m not saying that parents shouldn’t be responsible for their children’s actions, but how far is too far?
LikeLike
I don’t know how far is too far. The courts will decide.
Giving a child a deadly weapon for Christmas is too far.
LikeLike
I thought parents WERE charged if they hold parties, serve alcohol to minors, and someone has an accident.
I always thought the law distinguished between kids obtaining the alcohol themselves illegally, perhaps with a fake ID, and the parents GIVING it to them.
The parents gave an AK-15 to a minor.
I recall during Columbine feeling very sorry for the parents who were not gun-owners and did not know their son had obtained a gun illegally.
This is NOT that story.
But more and more the school shooters are like the Trump supporting families and politicians who pose with their assault weapons on Christmas cards.
20+ first graders at Sandy Hook plus brave and kind school administrators and teachers gunned down because parents thought giving young people access to assault weapons was a good thing. In that case, one of the parents was killed as well, but not the other.
LikeLike
it’s some twisted testament about our country that now, maybe parents will have a second thought about buying children their own guns and rifles.
LikeLike
Yes, parents are and should be responsible. And, that has become the new “Yeh, but” talking point for the GOP. BLAME SOMEONE. (Gee, where did that come from Mr. exPresident?)
It’s probably in the GOP playbook in the chapter on “BLAME SOMEONE ELSE” and “DEFLECT” and the proverbial “broken record” technique for their PR people.
Everyone is sick about his shooting. Again.
But the GOP has moved the needle from “Thoughts and Prayers” and “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” to AH HA, WE CAN BLAME THE PARENTS. “They gave it to him. They ignored symptoms. They didn’t lock it up.” “That’s your talking point!”
GOP NRA PLAYBOOK figure 1: REPEAT: “If it weren’t for those parents… if it weren’t for that security plan… if it weren’t for the slow response time… this wouldn’t have happened.”
Anything to deflect from THE PROBLEM: ACCESS TO GUNS.
And for the hunters and legitimate gun owners out there, speak up, defend your grandfather’s NRA, and push back. No one is coming for your rifle to hunt but c’mom, your organization defends your right to own assault rifles and mini-machine guns.
LikeLike
The Massacres Will Continue Until The SCOTUS Gang Is Convicted As Accessories Before The Fact
LikeLike
yes
LikeLike
I can see charging parents as accessories if they are the ones who give their kid the weapon. Or maybe even child neglect for failing to get their kid mental health treatment (unless there’s evidence that they tried). That’s holding parents responsible for their own behavior. But I am adamantly opposed to charging parents with murder or manslaughter for their child’s behavior. No human being can or should control any other human being. I think it sets a really bad precedent that will lead to more controlling behavior from parents and more rebellion from kids which will cause more harm. He may have been a horrible parent, but Colin Gray did not pull the trigger.
LikeLike
Colin Gray gave his son an AR-15 weapon for Christmas.
LikeLike
Gee, I wish I had said something like “I can see charging parents as accessories if they are the ones who give their kid the weapon.“
LikeLike
I was responding to the last sentence of your comment.
“He may have been a horrible parent, but Colin Gray did not pull the trigger.”
Colin Gray did not pull the trigger but he gave his child an AR 15 for Christmas.
LikeLike
What exactly do you object to about that sentence? It is verifiably true.
LikeLike
He did not pull the trigger but he gave his 14-year-old a military-grade weapon, which the boy used to kill four people.
LikeLike
Correct. Giving someone a gun and pulling the trigger are two different things.
In any case, why focus specifically on the act of giving the gun? It’s pretty evident that the father was abusive all along. Why not charge him for that? Except that they can’t because then they’d have to charge all the authorities who knew for a long time that this family was a disaster waiting to happen and did nothing about it. Bring given that gun was hardly the only way Colt was failed in his life that was just as directly responsible for those four deaths.
LikeLike
These parents’ rights people need to realize that not all parents have common sense or exercise good judgment. We desperately need some common sense gun laws.
LikeLike
Why is anyone even talking about parents being responsible for their child’s behavior ALWAYS?
Parents are responsible for their child’s behavior when the child could only behave that way because of specific actions in which the parent improper (illegally) provides the means for it to happen.
If a child gets their hands on a gun the parent left out in their house and shoots another kid, are parents not to blame?
If the child finds a gun on the street and shoots another kid with it, the parents didn’t enable that shooting as they did if they left a gun out and the kid was playing with it at home.
Don’t we do that with illegal drugs when some kid dies because they injested some meth or heroin left accessible by their parents?
And in that case, at the least the parents didn’t give them drug paraphernalia as a gift and teach them how to use it. If the parent said “how could I imagine that teaching them how to use this would ever lead to any bad outcome because they would use it?” they would be locked up. But guns are special.
LikeLike
No human being should control another? Okay, but as a parent I “controlled” my kids daily. I controlled what they ate, when they went to bed, when they went to school, and access to technology. I also controlled manners. It’s called setting boundaries. Without any of that, it’s a disaster waiting to happen, which it did. I also controlled my sons’ access to weapons. I never bought them any. Amazingly, they’ve never shot and killed anyone. Wonder why.
LikeLike
It’s depressing that so many parents think like this. Parenting isn’t (or shouldn’t) be about controlling. It should be about taking care of and living and working with. Yes, some of the actions may be the same, but the attitudes behind that are important. Controlling only allows for obedience or rebellion. Working with allows for cooperation, which is much nicer. I strongly recommend everyone make Teacher Tom’s blog a daily stop even if your kids are grown and even if you never had kids at all.
P.S. There’s a difference between controlling the environment (providing healthy food and limiting dangers, for instance) vs. controlling the child.
LikeLike
Exactly, Oakland Mom, & this is almost to the word what a Dad–who was part of a panel discussion–said on a news program yesterday.
Sorry…my kid does not receive a gun as a gift from his/her/their parents.
LikeLike
Bad enough he gave the boy a gun Worse it was an assault weapon, a killing machine.
LikeLike
Right Wing parents assert that they have parental responsibility over what their kids are taught in school, so they have to also accept parental responsibility for what their kids do in general. Parents can’t have it both ways. And what kind of “responsible” parent buys their 14-year old kid a military weapon of mass killing? I grew up in the Midwest and hunted with a rifle when I was as young as eight — but the rifle was a single-shot, bolt-action .22, and it was locked up when not hunting. I totally agree with all the restrictions on guns set forth as constitutional by the current conservatives on the Supreme Court, as follows: TODAY’S CONSERVATIVE U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICES HAVE INVITED LAWMAKERS TO MAKE SPECIFIC GUN REGULATIONS — on pages 54-55 of its Heller decision, the Court gave Congress and state lawmakers the outline and rationale to follow to create gun control laws that the Court will approve as constitutional. In Heller, the Court declared that: >>> No unlimited right to bear arms exists::The conservative Court flatly declared in Heller that limits CAN be put on guns and on gun ownership, stating: “Like most rights, THE RIGHT SECURED BY THE SECOND AMENDMENT IS NOT UNLIMITED…” [it is] “…not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.” Those are the words of the CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY of the U.S. Supreme Court justices in their Heller ruling. >>> America’s historical tradition limits “dangerous and unusual weapons: The conservative Court declared that “We also recognize another important limitation on the right to keep and carry arms. Miller [an earlier case decided by the Supreme Court] said, as we have explained, that the sorts of weapons protected were those ‘in common use at the time’ [when the 2nd Amendment was written]. We think that limitation is fairly supported by the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of ‘dangerous and unusual weapons’.” The Second Amendment became part of the Constitution more than 230 years ago in 1791. The very first semi-automatic gun was not invented until nearly a 100 years after that, in 1885. Most guns in use at the time that the Second Amendment was written were single-shot muzzle loaders. >>> No weapons can be carried in sensitive areas or by felons and mentally ill people: “Nothing in our [Heller] opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or on laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.” The CONSERVATIVE majority DID NOT HAVE TO write these things into their ruling — but they did because they were INVITING Congress and state lawmakers to craft laws that fit the Court’s stated outlines to control the sale of guns in general and especially control and limit the sales of assault rifles and high-capacity magazine cases. But Congress doesn’t have the moral integrity or the decency to do that, even in the face of repeated slaughter of school children. So, why aren’t legislatures in Blue States crafting gun control laws that fit the standards provided by the Supreme Court? Tell lawmakers at every level right now that they have been given clearance by the Supreme Court to craft effective gun control laws — and hold lawmakers accountable at the ballot box if they fail to act. You can read the Court’s Heller ruling at: https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep554/usrep554570/usrep554570.pdf
LikeLike
Presidents also have a responsibly to defend the US Constitution against all enemies both foreign and domestic.
Presidents are also responsible to serve and protect the country and its people.
Traitor Trump is guilty of not doing his duty to defend the US Constitution or protect the country and its people.
How many years in prison should former president Traitor Trump serve because of what happened due to his actions and words on January 6, 2021?
Because of Traitor trump, people died on that day.
How many years in prison should former president Traitor Trump serve because of how he mishandled the COVID pandemic causing several hundred thousand deaths that didn’t have to happen?
If those parents were sentenced 10-15 years for the four children their son killed, how many years should Traitor Trump serve for what he caused to happen?
And that is just the tip of an iceberg when it comes to what Traitor Trump still causes to happen. All the death threats from MAGA lunatics that Traitor Trump causes to happen all the time. The distrust of one of the safest electoin system in the world.
Traitor Trump must pay for his crimes. HE MUST PAY! I want him to serve a life sentence in a super max in isolation cut off from the world but kept alive and conscious as long as possible, so the time he spends in isolation he only has his voice and thoughts for company. And that goes on for decades as he is allowed to live off water, an apple or two a day, and slices of bread with peanut butter (I’m being nice by adding peanut butter) — only. No Diet Coke. No fast food. No ketchup he can throw at walls.
LikeLike
I just learned that the FBI had already contacted the family about the boy’s “Discord” account, where he expressed his fantasy of being a mass shooter. They couldn’t press charges because there wasn’t enough evidence. The father bought his son the “Christmas” rifle after this happened. Unbelievable!!!
LikeLike
That’s the Libertarian way….. “I’ll do what I want, when I want, how I want and you can’t do anything about it!”. They have NEVER learned that living in a Democracy is about “We” .
LikeLike
LisaM, that sounds like the Trump mantra: Me not We.
LikeLike
Advance apologies for possible TMI.
I don’t understand what some of the argument is about here. In this case, as well as the Crumbleys’, the parents’ involvement (even the cause) in the shootings is egregious. WHO (in their right minds) gives a minor an assault-style weapon as a “gift,” even had there not been warning signs?
People are DEAD. IMO, this father & the Crumbleys (who, BTW, not only gave their son a weapon of mass destruction but further abandoned him by running away AND cleaned out his bank account to do so.) Further (& correct me if I’m wrong on this), they retained attorneys for themselves, but left their son w/a public defender. You may criticize me for saying this, but I actually cried when I saw Crumbley son enter his guilty plea w/his speech (all the while looking down at the floor). How easily all of this could have been avoided had parents been parents. (&, you may recall, when the PD finally had them all in the same room & the so-called parents left the room, only the father said, “I love you, son.”) Absolutely heartbreaking.
I hope they throw the book at the father, & it appears like the maternal grandfather & shooter’s aunt feel the same way. (& he may be another like the Oxford, MI–unclear yet whether he was asking for mental health help, but, as in Oxford, he surrendered, & I’m pretty sure he’ll plea the same.)
Being very close to Highland Park, IL (I was in a parade in a neighboring suburb at the exact same time, & we witnessed the police cars & ambulances racing to H.P. on a major road that we had to cross to end the parade), I feel that the father (who signed his son’s FOIA, even after son had threatened family w/knives, expressed suicidal thoughts, etc.) should have gotten more jail time–maybe Mom some as well–everyone remembers the scene in her driveway that day, w/her yelling at law enforcement–& she had allowed son to take her car (&, fortunately, a 2nd murderous rampage did not occur in Wisconsin). BTW–& just as I’d thought–talked to an HP elementary/middle school teacher (who wasn’t shooter’s teacher, but knew some who were)–shooter had been referred for an evaluation, & parents refused.
&, yet again, a monumental law enforcement failure. “On the radar?” What does this mean?! Also, just when are responsible adults going to do what they need to do to help put a stop to all of this? Oxford, MI–a layer of school personnel–social worker or psychologist, principal &/or ass’t principal (& the teacher, who had reported him & sent him to the office* was blamed!!)–never even checked his backpack, thought he was “ok” (Really? a picture of bloodied individual? “Searching for ammo” online?)
*Isn’t the principal’s/administration’s job to take care of such situations (NOT the teacher’s)?
&–I highly recommend you all read the book Why Meadow Died by (about the Parkland shooting) Andrew Pollock (& teacher co-author). That fully explains the negligence of the Parkland, FL school system administration, as teachers referred him to get help again & again (he did get some, but not enough, as you’ll find out when you read it.).
Surely we know there are (at least one) parent(s) who isn’t/aren’t to blame (although she does so over & over)–Sue Klebold, mother of one of the Columbine shooters. You must read her book, too, & see the documentary. Both she & her husband DID get their son mental health help as well as work w/the school. (Again, for more insight, read Columbine.) Author of Columbine writes that one, alone, couldn’t have carried out the shootings, but that the 2 were a lethal combination.
Also–to the msm–STOP NAMING the SHOOTERS. It is certain that the H.P. shooter was on the Dark Web, & these people were glorifying previous shooters before this monster climbed to the roof on 7/4/22 w/its assault weapon. For some stupid reason, it (another it–NOT a person) was allowed to have computer privileges while in jail, &, of course, the police found it on the same site(s) it’s been on before the shooting, & all were glorifying its evil deed. (& the latest shooter, it’s reported, was also following school shootings.) Let’s contact “Don’t Name Them” (dontnamethem.org) to pressure the msm to STOP. (There was something similar after Sandy Hook, I believe, & I recall Anderson Cooper pledging that he/CNN would from thereon in, not name shooters. Of course, that’s not happened.)
“Don’t Name Them is actually coordinated by the ALERRT Center @ TX State U, the I Love U Guys Foundation & the FBI.”
LikeLike
The NY Times has not named the Georgia shooter. The Washington Post has.
LikeLike
👍 for The NYT (especially given everything that’s been commented upon here about The NYT).
LikeLike
Democrats in Georgia suggested a special session to address the matter. Said Gov. Kemp: This is not the time for politics.
I think he is right. It’s time he got off his kester and did something instead of playing politics.
LikeLike
Regulate IVF but don’t regulate battlefield slaughter machines.
The GOP has rendered itself a failed party run by failed human beings.
LikeLike
The Republican Party of today is full of insane people.
LikeLike
It’s been months since I’ve been on this blog. And in that time, Diennes gotten even more contrarian and weirder- so exhausting.
What kind of crazy person equivocates criticisms about parent giving a 14 year year-old an AR 15 with “controlling them”?
What did you smoke?
LikeLike
Peter Greene’s post on the Georgia shooting is well worth reading.
https://curmudgucation.substack.com/p/its-the-guns-but-its-not-just-the
LikeLike
This is slightly off topic but it was reported that the classroom doors automatically locked when closed. This feature probably saved lives and prevented the crazed shooter from easily getting into the classrooms. Of course he could have shot the door open but didn’t for whatever reason. When I was teaching more than 25 years ago, having locking classroom doors would have been unheard of; school shootings were very rare at that time.
What kind of father gives his troubled son a machine of death? Makes no sense.
From ndtvdotcom: His mother, Marcee, had been arrested several times on drug use and domestic violence charges. A neighbour described the mother as neglectful and abusive towards her children, saying she would regularly lock Gray and his siblings out of the house and refuse to let them in.
“They would be banging on the back door, just screaming like ‘Mom! mom! mom!’ and crying. It was absolutely devastating,” she told the New York Post, adding that sometimes the children would beg for food from neighbours.
His mother’s lengthy criminal history, which spanned 17 years, includes charges of domestic violence, drug possession, property damage and various traffic violations, including drink driving. She was in jail as recently as April
“I would find her in the driveway, passed out, with the car running and blaring music early in the morning,” the neighbour said, adding that the woman would drive her younger son to daycare while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. End quote
LikeLike
Good point. This family has been dysfunctional for a long time, and this young man is the product of the dysfunction. Nevertheless, we sorely lack some common sense gun laws. We need some laws that will protect innocent people from the dangerous ones. Guns in the wrong hands are the problem. We shouldn’t have to arm teachers, hire arm guards or turn our schools into fortresses in order to keep the innocents safe.
LikeLike
I can also recall that when we had an adolescent that was clearly out of control the school district was able to get a PINS Petition on the young person. PINS=Person in need of supervision. The court then mandated mental treatment for the child and some type of intervention for the family. I don’t know if this is a national or only a New York state program, but something similar may have helped this boy.
LikeLike
The shooter was in his second day at a new school. No one knew him.
LikeLike
Here’s something the reformsters never consider – when you have so much churn of teachers, admins and kiddos, there’s no opportunity to be “known”.
LikeLike
Joe Jersey,
I had not read anything about the mother. What a horrible life this boy had. No excuse for murdering others but horrible nonetheless.
Yes, the door locking feature saved lives as did the panic buttons that summoned the police, as did the fact that they immediately confronted him. Unlike Uvalde, where nearly hundreds of armed police and troopers waited for an hour before entering the classroom to stop the killer.
LikeLike
Open carry. No age restrictions. No background check. No license. No permit. So why not give babies rocket launchers?
Are there no rational adults in Georgia?
You can’t facilitate mass murder then complain it’s just a “fact of life”.
LikeLike
These aren’t “parents”.
They’re eager co-conspirators.
LikeLike