The father of the mass shooting suspect accused of killing four people at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, told investigators this week he had purchased the gun used in the killings as a holiday present for his son in December 2023, according to two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Colt Gray, a 14-year-old student, is accused of killing two students and two teachers with an AR-style rifle in the Wednesday shooting. Nine more people were hospitalized.

One source told CNN the AR-15-style rifle was purchased at a local gun store as a Christmas present.

  • TipRing@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    324
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 months ago

    So his son was being investigated for making threats to shoot up the school and he decided that the best gift was a gun that could allow his son to act on those threats.

    Charging him in connection with the shooting seems appropriate.

      • Maeve@kbin.earth
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        41
        arrow-down
        10
        ·
        3 months ago

        I bet physical and/or verbal abuse was abundant in that household, probably spousal abuse as well, up to and including sexual and financial.

        • jordanlund@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          43
          ·
          3 months ago

          No sexual abuse reported, but everything else, yeah.

          More red flags than a May Day Parade, like usual.

          • Maeve@kbin.earth
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            11
            arrow-down
            52
            ·
            3 months ago

            People don’t agree with what I’m going to say, but nonconsensual *nonmonogamous sexual relationships are physically and emotionally abusive. Physically because they potentially expose the non-consenting to disease, and death by disease. Emotionally and actually financially, because of gaslighting, withholding, gaslighting. And even with laws on the books, all abuse is underreported, and then when it is, there’s the victim blaming mentality, from report to trial, if it makes it that far. *Autocorrect

        • saltesc@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          3 months ago

          You must have a very exciting betting wallet. I usually just got for one thing rather than spray hedge bets.on all the things I can basrlessly assume. Also, you didn’t cover race or politics in there.

    • The Pantser@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      67
      ·
      3 months ago

      Yup they can go the same route as the Oxford, MI shooter and charge the parents. They got 10 years, if more parents got charged parents might wise up. This sounds 100% the exact same situation. Oxford kids parents told him not to get caught next time when he was in trouble for looking at ammunition during school.

    • Pacmanlives@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      3 months ago

      Yeah, this is where I have issue. I grew up around guns and hunting. When I passed my safe hunters I got my first 12 gage shotgun and then got a 410 later that year along with a 50 cal black powder rifle and the. Get a few AR’s and AK/SKS’s along the way. I grew up respecting them and it was a normal part of life. People had gun racks in their trucks with guns in them in high school at the time.

      But this kid obviously had issues and they should have been in a safe away from him. I do think holding parents liable with start changing things slowly. I wish it was an over night change but we need to do it more often

    • rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      3 months ago

      I absolutely don’t see an accessory charge at minimum as being too far of a stretch either. Lock both of them up.

      • Fedizen@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        33
        ·
        3 months ago

        imagine how much worse this would be if the child in question went to drag time story hour instead of being given a killing machine! /s

      • HostilePasta@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        20
        ·
        3 months ago

        Drag queen story times are of the devil! ( The Christians say while attending church where someone dresses up and reads stories).

      • quafeinum@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        3 months ago

        I was gonna write a witty but bleak reply to this but I’m not gonna. Have a nice day

      • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        3 months ago

        Did he think the kid was going to carry it around the school all day every day? Did he know that school shootings tend to happen … in schools?

    • aname@lemmy.one
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      37
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      Call me crazy, but I don’t think civilians should own AR-15s

    • Today@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      3 months ago

      I grew up in a rural area with just my mom. We had two handguns and a shotgun hidden in the house. Anytime we went walking in the pasture a gun came with us in case of snakes or wild dogs and a couple of times per year i was required to shoot at cans with each one. I wasn’t interested in them and didn’t like shooting them, but understood her desire for me to feel comfortable using them ‘just in case’. We often took long road trips to visit family and would stop to nap in rest areas for a few hours. The small handgun was always beside the driver’s seat. It was the 70s and early 80s and nothing was locked. 22 in the nightstand drawer, 38 in a dresser drawer, and shotgun behind her bedroom door - all loaded and ready. It didn’t seem weird; it was just what my mom did to try to keep us safe.

      • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        Not everybody is fortunate to have responsibility and be mentally sane. Even the father in this case probably told the kid the to dos and not to dos of owning a gun (or not. Idk man). But you know, all this happened.

        • Today@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          3 months ago

          Yeah. I don’t really know why i shared all of that. Just struggling to make sense of something senseless, i guess. i visit several schools per day and we all whine about the inconvenience of badge fobs, locked classrooms, being required to put the alert app on our phones and then having it constantly going off all day with every drill at every school, etc. Then when something like this happens i feel shitty for whining, heartbroken for those families, and thankful that it wasn’t my schools, teachers, kids, … It sucks. And the worst part is that we know it will happen again and again. Rambling…sorry.

          • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            3 months ago

            Yeah all good man. I definitely appreciated your story. I also think that responsible citizens should be able to carry. We shouldn’t be handing guns to untrained maniacs out here. Ideally, your family would be a shining example of how to be responsible gun owners.

    • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)@badatbeing.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      81
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      I could see if you’re really into guns and you want to teach your kid the importance of gun safety, etc. But that firearm should 110% be under lock and key so that the child has no way to access it outside of parental supervision. This sounds like gross negligence, and a disturbing trend of parents for whatever reason buying troubled youth firearms in what I think most would consider counter to good judgement.

      Edit - Ugh… It’s even worse after reading this part…

      The timeline the teen’s father provided to authorities would put the gun purchase months after authorities first contacted Gray and his family to investigate school shooting threats made online.

      • ModernEraCaveman@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        39
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        If your kid is really into guns, then buy them a bb gun for fucks sake. Teach them gun safety with something that won’t kill anyone. What kind of brain dead parents are out there thinking that buying a child a gun is a good idea? THE KID’S NOT EVEN OLD ENOUGH TO DRIVE FFS

        • ChillPenguin@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          3 months ago

          You know… This whole gun thing. You’re on to something. Some people are absolutely brain dead and have no critical thinking skills. That’s what scares me about guns. Even with the argument that guns are just tools. Have you looked around America and seen the types of people that exist? Now imagine them all owning guns.

          Fucking scary.

    • The Pantser@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      40
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      Should be illegal to buy a child a gun until they are 18. You can 2A all you want about defending the country but you fuckers ain’t gonna tell me you will have a child in your militia. Can’t drive until 16, can’t smoke until 18, can’t drink until 21 but you can go out and fire deadly weapons whenever your parents say it’s cool.

      • SupraMario@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        3 months ago

        21 now to smoke.

        And hopefully they keep charging the parents. Got kids? Got firearms? They better be locked in a safe and only the parent should know the code…some people are dumb as fuck.

    • jballs@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      3 months ago

      Why these people giving weapons to their kids after the sheriff first contacted you to investigate school shooting threats your kid made online,

    • Chozo@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      I think part of the reason for this is that you have a lot of these dipshit parents who see headlines like this and think “the LiBeRaLs are going to use this week’s school shooting as justification for taking our guns; I’ll show them, I’ll give my children guns and be the proof that guns aren’t the problem”. At least, with how often I see the sentiment of “well my kids have guns and haven’t killed anybody” across social media, that’s my assumption.

      They all think they’re responsible gun owners. And maybe some of them are. Hell, maybe most of them are. But a non-zero amount aren’t, and we need to have safeguards in place instead of “nothing we can do but pray for stronger doors on the schools”.

      • HostilePasta@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        Except responsible gun owners wouldn’t buy their child a gun and give them access to it whenever they please. Any firearms I may or may not possess would be locked in a safe which no one but any spouse I may hypothetically have had access to. Unfortunately I lost all my firearms in a tragic boating accident a few years back.

        What I’m trying to say is that, while the government shouldn’t be allowed to come check that people have their guns locked up when not in use, there should absolutely be repercussions for anyone found to not be doing so.

    • Empricorn@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      People like this put the “toxic” in toxic masculinity. “Oh, my son is having a hard time maturing and posted school shooting threats online? He just needs to grow up, firearms will help with that!”

      Can we please get gun reform yet!? This doesn’t happen in other countries…

  • 2pt_perversion@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    96
    ·
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    My dad gave me a gun for one of my earlier birthdays. It was a bolt action .22 that went right into a gun safe that I couldn’t access…It was a pretty shitty present as I didn’t enjoy hunting at the time but in retrospect I’m glad I learned gun safety and shooting.

    Why the fuck would you buy a 14 year old an AR15 style rifle, especially after he already had a history of making school shooting threats at school? Dude deserves prison for a long time.

    • kandoh@reddthat.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      35
      ·
      3 months ago

      Respecting a gun as a deadly weapon makes you a pussy. Your gun is like your dick, only better because you can buy a really big one instead of being stuck with what nature gave you.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        3 months ago

        One thing I learned in the Army was someone always has a bigger gun. So it’s what you do with the one you have that matters. After all, men have captured entire trenches with nothing but a pistol; while the guys with the big guns spent weeks pounding away to no satisfaction.

        (I see the door but I’m not leaving until I finish this beer. Any attempts to force me will result in more punishment)

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            3 months ago

            Makes for great video though. All those batteries lined up, and firing their shots.

            • kandoh@reddthat.com
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              3 months ago

              I agree, love when they put some fresh batteries in and you can really feel the vibrations

  • Commiunism@lemmy.wtf
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    63
    ·
    3 months ago

    My pragmatic side is absolutely disgusted with this - why would you gift a gun to your kid while living in an urban area? It makes no practical sense other than fueling this weird American obsession with guns.

    I understand giving your teen kid a hunting rifle if you live in a rural area and go hunting sometimes, but not an AR in a city - it’s just asking for trouble.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      3 months ago

      After police talked to you about the kid having made online threats to do a school shooting.

      He knew. And he gave him a gun anyways. I hope he gets convicted and sued into the ground.

    • Machinist@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      28
      arrow-down
      11
      ·
      3 months ago

      My fourteen year has a few guns. 20 gauge single shot break barrel, .410 single shot break barrel, bolt action .22 rifle and a single action .22 revolver. (Single action revolvers are the really old school kind where you have to cock the hammer each time it shoots. It’s a damn big revolver as well, good luck concealing it.) They are used for varmint control and hunting. The revolver is great for rat shot and he has taken quite a few gophers with it. He understands what guns do and how they cause death.

      We hunt, fish, camp, kayak, live on a tiny farm.

      I don’t own an AR, don’t have use for one at this time. Giving a kid an AR and uncontrolled access to it in an urban environment is nucking futz. My son has access to his guns because I trust him to safely and respectfully use them. He also has been trained in their proper use since he was 7 or 8.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        3 months ago

        And what would you do if the police showed up to politely talk about your kid making school shooting threats online?

        The relevant bit from the article, that they buried-

        The timeline the teen’s father provided to authorities would put the gun purchase months after authorities first contacted Gray and his family to investigate school shooting threats made online.

        • Machinist@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          14
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          3 months ago

          That’s kind of the point I’m trying to make. There’s a healthy way for kids to have and use guns, but it certainly isn’t this.

          America has so warped its perception of guns that they’re now some sort of male enhancement device and tied into people’s identity.

          This is probably a somewhat idealized view of the past, but I would think most Americans of the past viewed guns primarily as tool instead of as a supplementary cock.

          Those people have no business owning a gun. I fully support some sort of gun control. Even more than that, public healthcare including mental healthcare would go a long way towards reducing shootings like this.

          If the cops showed up to talk to me about my kid making threats, I would very politely listen to them without saying much or incriminating any of us. I’d check in with his teachers, get their side. Then I’d almost certainly lock up every gun, most of the knives and get him to a shrink. If we could afford it, we’d be looking into inpatient therapy.

          A big chunk of this country, for all intents and purposes, has gone permanently insane. They’re a danger to themselves and others. Doesn’t seem to be any fixing it anytime soon.

          It pisses me off. I often feel like suburban wannabe tuff guys are trying to ape masculinity and they end up cosplaying as me. Do they feel like real big boys now?

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            10
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            3 months ago

            I know exactly what you mean and I figured that would be your answer. I just wanted it out there so people could see just how far out of normal this gun culture is. I carried a lot of guns in the military and while they were fun, having to use them outside of training was very not fun. I’ve also seen first-hand why having a gun in the house increases risk of death, specifically for veterans like me. I hate this idea of guns as a fashion accessory or as you say, extra manliness cosplay. If we’re going to have them they need to be highly regulated tools. Not freely available toys.

            • Machinist@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              13
              ·
              3 months ago

              I’ve also seen first-hand why having a gun in the house increases risk of death, specifically for veterans like me.

              There’s that whole healthcare, including mental healthcare, thing again. “Here kid, take this gun and go kill people for 'Murica, like protect our freedoms or whatever. What, you want healthcare now that you’re back home and fucked up? Fuck you, go to the VA and take a number.” That shit is fucked and I’ve hung with several fucked up veterans. Poor bastards didn’t sign up for that shit.

              I hope I never ever have to shoot at a person.

              Gun culture shouldn’t even be a thing like it is. At most, it should be like car culture or something.

              I enjoy my guns but I also love a lot of my other tools. I’ve got a 1944 or earlier Atlas lathe I restored, a '98 Ford Ranger that I keep running tight. I’m currently working on a '69 Wheel Horse mini tractor. I’ve got a caliper from 1856. I’ve got an assortment of knives that I use for various things, most of them in carbon steel.

              Gun culture should be a subset of tool culture, not this insane identity political religion shit that we have now.

          • MellowYellow13@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            3 months ago

            Americans in the past viewed guns as a tool? How ignorant are you? You mean the World Wars or the civil wars or the genocide of the natives? Which one we talkin about?

            • Machinist@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              3 months ago

              How ignorant are you?

              That’s a dick way to ask that question. How ignorant are you? Man killing guns were absolutely and still are viewed as tools, especially by the military.

              I’ve got plenty of problems with the way I was raised, especially religion and politics. However, my parents and grandparents viewed guns as tools. Most people around me as a kid viewed them as tools. Concealed carry was almost unheard of and, for the most part, paranoid gun nuts were viewed with some distaste.

              I was raised in rural Alabama, fwiw. I think the big change in attitude started happening with Ruby Ridge, Waco, and Columbine. There has absolutely been a cultural shift around guns and their fetishization.

              As far as genocide and all the horrible things that have been done, duh. The focus was on the killing, not the tools used to do the job. You don’t see people fetishizing Zyclon b, small pox, or famine to this degree.

              You’re just looking for something to get offended about.

              But whatever, guess I’m just ignorant.

      • meliaesc@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        3 months ago

        I support these use cases, but I still disagree with open access. He shows his untrained friend, and now you’re liable for their death. He becomes clinically depressed and now he has a method for suicide. It’s just not worth the risk.

        • Machinist@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          3 months ago

          Why? He’s not as big into hunting like me, but will kill varmints when necessary and has done so when I’m not home so his mother didn’t have to.

          I used to go hunting alone when I was his age.

          He’s mentally stable, well adjusted. He views guns as tools, as do I. He also has a rolling toolbox with $1k of tools in it. He put in so much work this summer that a full toolbox was part of how I rewarded him.

          Now, if there was depression, threats, suicidal tendencies, etc.: totally different situation.

          Guns aren’t a masculinity fetish for us, they’re just another tool. Guns and other power tools are fun to play with as long as you understand the safety and proper use of them.

          I’m in the market for a chainsaw, I’ll be getting chaps to go with it. He’ll also be trained in the use of the chainsaw and have open access to it.

          I’ve also been teaching him how to drive and he can’t get a permit until he’s 16.

          He uses dangerous tools regularly. More and more, he does so without my direct supervision.

          • meliaesc@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            A chainsaw’s primary use is to cut through wood. A car’s primary use is to travel from point A to B. A gun’s primary use is to kill. Again, I very much support the training and use cases, but that’s why I’m against open access without an issued permit.

            • Machinist@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              2 months ago

              He also has open access to rat poison.

              … that’s why I’m against open access without an issued permit.

              I’m guessing you’re not from the US? Permits aren’t issued for such a thing. As far as I know, permits are only issued for concealed carry outside of one’s property. There are hunting licenses, but that that doesn’t really factor in to gun access.

              Given the smaller calibers and slow fire rates of the guns he has access to, the purpose of his guns is not man killing. They’re for varmints and such.

              I keep going back to the tool definition of guns. In the US, most people seem to no longer view guns as tools. They are scary or empowering magic objects that cause great fear or act as a male enhancement device depending on political views.

              IDK, this society is sick this shooting is a symptom. People’s knee jerk reactions to guns on both sides is a symptom. Kids get caught in the middle in the meat grinder.

    • billwashere@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      I grew up in rural WV. We were given a Ruger 10/22 for our 10th birthday. Now it was in my father’s locked gun cabinet and I couldn’t just go get it when I wanted but it was mine. We’d take it plinking in the woods on the weekend sometimes. Well when he wasn’t shit faced drunk but I digress …

      • Zomg@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        edit-2
        3 months ago

        This situation you describe is something I don’t see a major problem with. It being yours but under your parents control and secured away unless he’s present with you sounds like a responsible approach that seems uncommon these days.

        I dont have any children, but I still think it’s the right and responsible thing to lock up my firearms.

        • billwashere@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          3 months ago

          Well I grew up not shooting up a school so it seems to have worked. It also helps I don’t have any mental health problems. Well unless you ask my wife.

          But seriously guns are just tools. Granted tools meant to kill things but still just tools. My father also taught me to respect regular tools. You can seriously hurt someone with a circular saw it’s just much harder to do from a distance.

          I don’t think you should let a toddler play with a hammer. You wait until they are old enough and strong enough and wise enough to weild it properly. Then you teach them how to use it for its purpose. And if it looks like they are going to have a psychotic break and murder people with it you take away the damn hammer and make sure they can’t just go get another hammer 🙄… it’s not really that hard.

    • auzy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      Why would you gift a gun to a kid even for hunting?

      There’s really no reason in any scenario

      • Omgpwnies@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        3 months ago

        You’d “give” the gun to the kid in the sense that it’s “their” gun to take hunting (and maintain, clean, etc), but it stays locked up in your safe, to which the kid has no access. But, in that case it would be a hunting rifle meant for beginners, maybe chambered in .22 or something like that. Usually, it’s something that gets passed down from parents/grandparents if hunting runs in the family. Definitely not the “school-shooter-9000” that these people got for their kid.

    • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      14
      ·
      3 months ago

      Some people see gun usage as a sporting activity. Go out and hit some targets, see how fast, or precise you can be, it’s also fun to just blast things. I could easily see a family that shoots together gifting their child an AR pattern rifle after they got used to shooting mom’s or dad’s firearm. It gives them their own platform to customize and practice on, akin to a musical instrument.

      That being said, I think it should take a lot more trust, awareness, and scrutiny from the parents, which was clearly missing in this case. This is more like giving the keys for your Dodge Pickup to your teen when they are absolutely hammered.

        • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          3 months ago

          If that’s how you want to read in to it, sure. It less about a gun being as safe, or as socially acceptable, and more about the psychological satisfaction granted from striving to perfect your usage of a tool. I could make the same comparisons to carpentry, archery, cooking, go-karting, golfing…etc.

            • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              5
              ·
              3 months ago

              Cool. I didn’t say anything about child development. Nice looking scarecrow you got there.

              • VARXBLE@lemmy.dbzer0.com
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                3
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                3 months ago

                You directly compared owning, customizing, and shooting a gun to the way a child would develop the ability to play a musical instrument. On this article about a 14 year old child being gifted a gun.

                • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  arrow-down
                  4
                  ·
                  3 months ago

                  You directly compared owning, customizing, and shooting a gun to the way a child would develop the ability to play a musical instrument.

                  Where?

    • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      3 months ago

      It makes no practical sense other than fueling this weird American obsession with guns.

      i still don’t understand this rhetoric, it’s a gun, it’s just a thing. It’s not a fucking gay person in the 1950s they aren’t going to give you aids like it’s the 80s.

      i mean sure guns are a little weird but like, so is collecting swords?

      • WhatTrees@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        You also have a right to collect Nazi memorabilia if you want, doesn’t mean I’m not going to call you weird.

        Do you think there might be anything different between collecting swords and collecting guns? Do you think most people who live in urban environments have a need for a semi-auto military style, magazine-fed rifle? What about multiple of them? What about machine guns?

        • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          3 months ago

          everything is weird at the end of the day if you think about it hard enough.

          Do you think there might be anything different between collecting swords and collecting guns? Do you think most people who live in urban environments have a need for a semi-auto military style, magazine-fed rifle? What about multiple of them? What about machine guns?

          i mean, you don’t need either of them. You don’t need anything really, this entire platform lemmy is useless if you think about it reductively enough.

          i don’t see anything inherently wrong with people owning guns, if people are allowed to own cars, knives, power tools, chemicals, gasoline, etc. I could keep going.

          I mean i own a little finger puppet racoon that sits on my desk near my computer, his name is badge. That’s pretty fucking weird.

          as for machine guns, those are highly impractical, and very expensive. So i doubt those are ever going to be a significant problem.

        • SendMePhotos@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          3 months ago

          I mean, a 10/22 ruger isn’t a huge gun and can be a Woodstock or modeled as an AR15 but it is the same gun with the same power, same magazine size, same trigger, fire distance, velocity, etc.

          I guess what I’m saying is that a rifle is a rifle. An AR15 does not shoot faster or more than a different gun.

          • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            3 months ago

            The gun nuts always argue that they should be able to have the scary guns because they are no more deadly than the hunting guns. If they’re functionally the same buy the hunting gun unless you’re buying it for how it looks. If you’re buying it for how it looks you shouldn’t have guns.

            • SendMePhotos@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              3 months ago

              People are allowed to customize the look of the guns. I haven’t ever heard of any gun or people being shamed for buying guns because of how they like them to look.

              In another perspective, making cars faster, boosting, lifting/lowering, and modifying them make them deadlier, too. They do affect the performance though whereas the look of a gun does not.

              I think the most they can do is modify the magazine count, trigger pressure, and maybe bump fire? But bump fire reduces accuracy.

              I’m a gun owner but not really into spending money on how they look. Most of my collection is hand-me-downs or family heirlooms. Won’t knock someone for getting what they find aesthetically pleasing.

              • Maple Engineer@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                4
                ·
                3 months ago

                I’ve owned guns for almost 40 years. I fully support the restrictions on gun ownership in Canada. If you’re buying a gun for how it looks, for how it makes you feel, or for how you think it makes other people feel you shouldn’t own guns. Guns aren’t jewelry. They aren’t a fashion statement. They’re a tool. The argument that they are functionally the same falls flat on its face when you challenge them to use the functionally equivalent walnut stocked field gun because they aren’t buying it for how it works, they’re buying it for how it looks.

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    62
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    After they had been contacted by investigators over concerns the kid wanted to do a school shooting.

    This is why red flag laws need to be a thing.

    The buried lede-

    The timeline the teen’s father provided to authorities would put the gun purchase months after authorities first contacted Gray and his family to investigate school shooting threats made online.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          14
          ·
          3 months ago

          2 counts of murder 2

          4 counts of involuntary manslaughter

          8 counts of cruelty to children

          I wonder how they settled on 2 counts of murder. Maybe that implies they think 2 victims were targetted and 2 were in the wrong place at the wrong time?

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        3 months ago

        Oh absolutely. Throw that fucker in jail. He’s more responsible than the kid.

        • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          edit-2
          3 months ago

          Yeah, I’m wondering how many people failed that kid for him to end up in a place where he decided to throw away his life to lash out in a way that couldn’t be ignored or swept under a rug.

          Ultimately, this is probably the root of the problem more than the access to guns are because a kid that wants to shoot up his school but can’t get a gun to do so is still a tragedy and could still turn deadly.

          Edit: not that guns aren’t too easy to access in the US

    • Johnmannesca@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      3 months ago

      Never buy your adolescents guns parents, as a matter of fact, don’t let them have guns where you can’t see them

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        3 months ago

        There are places where training your kids in an age appropriate manner is the right thing to do. But of course it’s the parent’s responsibility to do that correctly, supervise use, and remove any firearms if there are problems.

  • Manifish_Destiny@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    45
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 months ago

    I was gifted a shotgun at 15. It was a double barrel break action shotgun from my grandmother.

    I kept it in a gun rack my grandfather left me hanging on my wall. I never had issues, but if one of my friends wanted access, it probably could have been stolen.

    Lock up your guns.

  • ElcaineVolta@kbin.melroy.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    33
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    3 months ago

    it’s odd that they used “holiday present” in the headline, but the article says-

    One source told CNN the AR-15-style rifle was purchased at a local gun store as a Christmas present.

    it’s like they didn’t want christmas in the same headline as the mass shooting or something?

  • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    34
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    Americans need to analyze their views surrounding guns. And take their time. It’s mind-blowing to try to make them understand guns are risky, regardless of handling, trigger discipline, or any other bullshit they tell themselves. The mere existence of guns is dangerous, the bigger the number of guns out there is the amount of accidents, shootings and massacres waiting to happen out there.

    Edit: yeah, pushed some buttons here. Good.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      20
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      3 months ago

      Who have you been talking to? 80 percent of Americans want gun control laws like a universal background check. For a general question of more strict laws support is at 60 percent.

      Here’s a former Supreme Court judge saying the conservatives have hijacked the second amendment and we in response we should repeal it.

      Washington Post reports that around that same period 21 percent of Americans were ready to repeal it.

      We’re out here, and we’re pissed. We just get angrier every time time we see a headline and every time it turns out that common sense gun laws were subverted by people in authority.

      • InternetUser2012@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        People in authority thanks to gerrymandering. The republikkklan party is a fucking joke. If you support them, you’re a fucking clown and you’re responsible for this kind of shit. I have been hoping for years they’d see the light and realize they’re getting played, but here we are.

        VOTE!! If you can, volunteer to give rides to those that couldn’t vote without it.

        • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          3 months ago

          VOTE!! If you can, volunteer to give rides to those that couldn’t vote without it.

          make sure to pretend you’re doing voter fraud on the internet to piss off conservatives so you can gotcha them

      • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        3 months ago

        Here’s a former Supreme Court judge saying the conservatives have hijacked the second amendment and we in response we should repeal it.

        based. The ruling of the second is unconstitutional anyway.

        For all the talk over roe v wade being “unconstitutional and the wong way to do it” the conservatives sure seem to like the second amendment.

    • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      It’s funny (in a sad way) how people who frequent shooting ranges - which usually have very strict rules regarding firearm discipline and handling safety - are fine with allowing every schmuck in the world to walk around packing. If that shit is so important on a gun range, why would it be unimportant out in the world?

    • spyd3r@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      3 months ago

      Let me analyze this for a minute… Nope not giving up my rights because criminals can’t control themselves from committing crimes.

    • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      3 months ago

      the mere existence of literally anything is dangerous. Guns are just uniquely primed to kill humans.

      Knives scare me more than guns, just based of the pure frequency of how often people use them.

    • beefbot@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      15
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      Comment deleted when I realised I was responding to lemmy.ml user.

      The comment about being a cruel turd, that one’s still accurate so it stands 💅

    • beefbot@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      24
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      Sorry remind me when if ever you’ve walked through a shopping center and needed to know where your safest exits were? Where you’d hide with the thickest cover? Thought about which stairwell might be safest?

      Not just a shopping center. How about your workplace. Or church. Or which corner of your house you’d survive longest in.

      Thought about all those things, have you? Wow congrats, aren’t you so ahead of the game.

      Talking as if all my friends and family haven’t ever once given a thought to guns. What a lazy, facile, mindlessly cruel claim to make.

      What a bad person with an ugly heart you are to make it.

      Fuck you.

  • Maeve@kbin.earth
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    27
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    3 months ago

    AR-15-style

    Sociopaths raising a sociopath. We have to stop the race to the bottom, triggering people isn’t cool, it has serious repercussions, as noted in presidential races, even.

    • Kbobabob@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      Anyone got a list of AR-15 style guns? I have no idea why they can’t just say what it is and leave all the AR-15 shit out. I mean I know why they do it, it just sucks.

  • BigMacHole@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    25
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    3 months ago

    If you can Ban someone from buying their CHILD a GUN after that Child makes THREATS TO SHOOT UP HIS SCHOOL that’s SOCIALISM! SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED!

  • Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    24
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    3 months ago

    My father also bought me a gun as a birthday present as a teenager, and looking back it was wholly inappropriate and dangerous. Granted, I never had thoughts of killing people.

    • Cadeillac@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      3 months ago

      Were you always in possession of it, or did he keep it properly stored until he took you shooting?

      • Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        3 months ago

        I had a shotgun and .223 in the back window gun rack of my truck through middle school and high school (started driving at 14 with a school permit) with shells and rounds in the glove box. Nothing was ever locked where I grew up either; homes, vehicles, businesses.

        Granted I grew up in a town with under 1,000 people and the closest ‘city’ to us was an hour away and had a population of 25k.

        That was forty years ago and I feel a lot differently about things and the world is a different place but when I grew up more students and teachers had guns in their vehicles at school than didn’t. Everyone hunted, I pulled off and shot a coyote in pack that was stalking around one of my teachers herd of cows on the way to school one winter. I took the coyote into class and gave it to him since I had him first period.

        • Cadeillac@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          3 months ago

          I totally get it. My dad is from a town like that, if not smaller. Place I’m from isn’t a lot bigger, but it definitely wasn’t like his. They probably still carry hunting rifles to school. They get like a week off for deer hunting season because they wouldn’t show anyways

          • Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            3 months ago

            That just gave me some deep seated nostalgia, I forgot how much I enjoyed that week off of school we’d get. I feel so out of place trying to get my sons raised up sometimes. My entire grade size was never over 37 and that was with five combined towns going to the same school. We live in a town of fifty thousand people in a different state and everything feels so big to me even though I’ve lived here nearly twenty years. Anytime I’ve stayed in a real city for more than a night or two my anxiety goes into overdrive, I don’t know how people do it.

        • Treczoks@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          3 months ago

          And people wonder why criminals in the US have so ready access to firearms. In some areas, just steal a truck, and get a shitload of material to commit crimes for free!

    • HostilePasta@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      3 months ago

      I was also gifted firearms as a child. They were kept inside a locked safe that I didn’t have the combination for when not being used for hunting or target shooting. As much as I enjoy guns, hunting, and shooting, I can also see that responsibility goes beyond “it’s guaranteed in the constitution” or equivalent bullshit.

    • oyo@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      3 months ago

      A teenager’s brain chemistry is rapidly changing due to hormones, etc. I remember a couple days when I was about 14 where I became massively depressed for no apparent reason, just likely a temporary chemical imbalance in my brain. If I had a gun, who knows what I would have done.