Where does the accountability lie in the recent shooting in Newport News, Virginia, for a country so inured to gun violence?
Where does the responsibility lie in the recent shooting in Newport News, Virginia, for a country so inured to gun violence?
While issues of school security did figure in, there was also an anguished conversation over how to deal with such a young shooter and over who will ultimately face consequences for the shooting in a country that is so awash in guns. The boy remains in custody, but six-year-olds cannot be tried as adults under Virginia law. According to Bonnie, fault may be found in the adults in the child’s life. The gun shot by the child belonged to his mother, who legally obtained it. Thus, as has happened previously with other school shootings by young people, the legal – and political – focus has been on the problem of Americans’ widespread and easy access to firearms.
An aspect of this case unique to shootings committed by children is intent. Authorities called the shooting by the child deliberate, but Joshua Horwitz, the co-director of Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Gun Violence Solutions, said: “It’s hard for a six-year-old to form criminal intent.” Richneck elementary school – where the incident took place – and its parent school district scrambled for a response to the unexpected episode. Classes were cancelled for two days following the shooting and talks of installing a metal detector in the school are taking place.
“Safe storage laws work. Strong safe gun storage laws save lives. This is something that we should all be able to agree on,” he said. “The safest home generally is going to be a home without a firearm. If you have children in the home, you have to be very careful when you bring a gun in and, at a minimum, you have to keep [it] completely locked up.
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