HMMMmmm...
My father bought me my first shotgun when I was 12. He also taught me gun safety and to hunt.
I still have that shotgun.
I’ve never shot anyone.
I am not making excuses for the parents of this child. But age is not the touchstone of who can safely handle a weapon. (any type)
I know a lot of adults who have absolutely no business with a firearm.
Consider Alec Baldwin.
He’s an “adult”
However it is apparent he never learned any gun safety.
Got my 22 for xmas when I was 12. I started shooting with dad long before. Restored an old Italian Carcano rifle around the same time.
Remember being dropped off at my grandfather’s to go plinking behind his house. Fired thousands of rounds.
That’s a big difference. First of all it was the dad who bought him the gun, and if had bought him a shut gun, there would have been no way the boy could have brought to school with him, because those times are over. Your dad was obviously a responsible person because he taught you gun safety. That idiot of a father did obviously not teach his son what your dad taught you.
My dad gave me a single-shot .410 when I was 10, and then let me start using his double-barrel Ithaca 12 gauge two years later. He later sold both of them after I went to college. Pissed me off, I wanted that 12 gauge bigly.