Negligent parents should be held responsible when their children kill
It can’t happen here — until it does.
In December 2021, many in my hometown in Michigan gathered to remember the four high school students who were killed in the next town over in a senseless shooting at Oxford High School. Their lives were taken in November 2021 by their classmate, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, who opened fire with a gun his parents purchased for him, coached him to handle, and failed to lock up — even though Ethan had a history of mental health issues and violent ideation.
Earlier this month, a jury found the shooter’s mother, Jennifer Crumbley, guilty of manslaughter for her role in the crime. It’s the first time a parent of a school shooter has been found responsible in connection to the killings. Her husband, James, is scheduled to go on trial in March.
The conviction can set a national standard for holding parents of school shooters accountable when parents fail to address warning signs about their child and fail to prevent them from accessing weapons.
At the center of the trial was the failure of Jennifer and James Crumbley to safely store the gun they purchased for their son.
In Michigan, it is common for children to live in homes with guns. Many children grow up hunting deer with their fathers — but the gun-owning fathers I know instill in their children important lessons around gun responsibility and safety. Sensible gun-owning parents enforce safety measures to prohibit their children from accessing their firearms. They don’t lose track of where guns are or carelessly leave the gun safe lock code at 000, the factory default — like Jennifer and James Crumbley did.
Many anti-gun violence organizations, including Brady: United Against Gun Violence, have called for more stringent regulations on how parents secure their guns at home. “Irresponsible behavior like Jennifer Crumbley exhibited is why 76 percent of school shooters under the age of 18 get their firearms from home,” Kris Brown, president of Brady, said in a press release. “The consequences are irreparable.”
Earlier this year, the Biden administration announced new actions to promote safe storage laws, raise awareness of safe storage options, and fund access to effective firearm storage. The White House called for laws to “impose a clear standard to penalize those who do not safely store their weapons and whose weapons end up being used for violence.”
The administration also pushed Congress to pass a federal safe storage law to urge accountability for those who leave guns unsecure.
In 2022, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a gun violence prevention bill that includes measures to strengthen background checks for those under 21 seeking to purchase firearms, provide increased funding to support state red flag laws, expand community mental health services, and fund violence prevention efforts in schools.
The law is a good start, but Congress can do more. Federal action can also be taken to decrease access to assault and military-style weapons and require background checks for all gun sales.
Some may argue that holding parents criminally responsible for their children’s actions, particularly when they were unaware of their intentions, raises concerns about expanding liability. But the precedent set by Jennifer Crumbley’s conviction isn’t a slippery slope; it is an avenue that prosecutors can use when parents show gross negligence and irresponsible behavior. Balancing accountability with legal principles is crucial to protecting individual rights, but these can be weighed in tandem with potential parental negligence and societal harm.
The Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms, but what about the right to live without the fear of gun violence? The verdict should serve as a powerful deterrent to parents who allow their children unchecked access to deadly weapons.