It seems to me tragedy could’ve been averted had the shooter’s mother stored her guns in a safe. I know there are those who don’t like safe storage laws, but it seems to me that if you’re going to have crazy people visiting the house, keeping the guns under lock and key might be a good idea.
Of course, people should be permitted to store their own guns however they want. As far as I’m concerned, the primary purpose of privately owned guns is political, rather than bump in the night type protection. So storage in a safe works for me.
YMMV.
You can make a flame thrower for under $100.
Would the kids be better off if he burned them alive?
If a nut wants to kill they will find a way to do it.
In this particular case, the mother KNEW that her son was crazy - she had even warned a babysitter years earlier not to turn her back on him. In view of that, having ANY gun out of a safe (except maybe a single handgun with one or two mags, at night, right next to her - to be locked away each morning) was HIGHLY irresponsible. Actually, IMHO, it was criminally irresponsible. She paid the price here, and is likely paying it elsewhere right now.
Of course, people should be permitted to store their own guns however they want. As far as I’m concerned, the primary purpose of privately owned guns is political, rather than bump in the night type protection. So storage in a safe works for me.
It isn't just political. Robberies and home invasions occur every single night of the year, all over the country. I have no problem with having immediate access to one or two firearms - i.e. a pistol with a mag or 2, plus a shottie - but if there are kids or mentally-challenged/disturbed people in residence or visiting, common sense says that you lock away anything that is not directly on your person so that those people have no access. No problem people around? Then have a loaded gun in every room of the house as far as I'm concerned. As for me, I have elementary-aged kids, and they've been to the range and know NEVER to touch any gun without my wife or I present and giving permission, but I still lock away everything except a S&W J-frame that is hidden from them but easy to get to in a hurry if I need it.
“It seems to me tragedy could’ve been averted had the shooter’s mother stored her guns in a safe. I know there are those who don’t like safe storage laws, but it seems to me that if you’re going to have crazy people visiting the house, keeping the guns under lock and key might be a good idea.”
I don’t recall seeing anything in any published article yet about whether or not the mother maintained a gun safe. We just don’t know that yet.
Even if she had a gun safe, and used it, it’s possible the boy may have known where the key was and then accessed the weapons with it.
The real problem here, and the one that’s probably the toughest nut to crack, is that the mother either did not grasp the forces that were taking over her son (sounds like schizophrenia), or sensed them but refused to comprehend and foresee the dangers that could arise. She seemed to realize that things with him were deteriorating, as it was reported that she had mentioned to an acquaintance that she thought she was “losing him”.
If she indeed saw the precipice to which he was nearing, she made a grave misjudgment by not further securing (i.e., removing) her weapons from his reach — probably by completely removing them from the home. One can empathize with a parent (especially a mother) who becomes blinded to the faults of the child. In this case it was a mistake with not only personal, but national, consequences.