Wednesday, February 6, 2008

A gun walked by and all of a sudden...

This story is tragic but once again the blame is misplaced. Link here. In short, this 15 year old kid killed his family; father, mother, and two brothers aged 14 and 11. Apparently Nicholas Browning was minding his own business and a gun talked him into massacring his family. Just like that.

Slayings of relatives by teenagers "are usually spontaneous sorts of things," Schlesinger said. "With the brooding, depressive male adult, it's not spontaneous, it's much more thought through, with obsessive rumination prior to it. With a teenager, it's almost always impulsive, spontaneous, and there happens to be a loaded gun around."

Emphasis mine. What should I do today? Hmmm. Oh look! A gun! Maybe I should kill my family! Yeah right. This kid has problems but of course, no one had any idea.

Browning, who turns 16 on Saturday, had no history of violence, mental health problems or drug problems, according to court documents. His father was a highly regarded business attorney, and the family lived in an affluent suburb. Browning played golf and lacrosse, was active in his church and was close to becoming an Eagle Scout.

Also of interest:

The gun belonged to John Browning and was kept inside the home.

1911? A5? BAR? That’s probably wrong of me. And here’s some more posturing the blame onto stuff instead of a crazy 15 year old:

Experts said easy access to guns was a common thread in cases where children kill their parents.

"The biggest risk factor that was not prevented was his access to firearms, and I think that's the biggest tragedy," said Dr. Anandhi Narasimhan, a Los Angeles-based child psychologist.

Once again, a gun did not make this kid kill anyone. A 7” kitchen knife of 5 gallons of gas and some matches will work just fine.

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