I’m sure the father feels the same way that many parents do when they find their child dead. Still strapped in a car seat - left and forgotten in a locked car for 8 hours as the temperature climbs to 130 plus degrees.
We prosecute these parents. Even if it was an accident.
I’m not seeing much difference between that scenario and what the father did here.
A hard call, indeed. But I have to ask, What purpose is served by sending him to jail? And who benefits?
We prosecute them as an act of prevention, to make sure other parents know not to forget their children in cars. It used to happen all the time, parents would leave their children in a broiling car while they run in to get something at the market, or talk to a friend, or whatever. This has been greatly reduced as part of these prosecutions.
How likely is it that some idiot parent will let someone else hand their child a mini-Uzi which fires full auto? There's no preventionary element. If the father was running around saying he had no part in it, that he's blameless, I could see a justice element, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
If there's no prevention, and there's no justice to be found, this is just a malicious dragging out of the pain of everyone for a very tragic event only for the gain of anti-gun groups who will use this to ban children from holding any gun, ban school firing ranges, ban boy scout shooting ranges, etc.