Letter: Prosecute adults who don’t keep guns out of troubled youths’ hands

So another mass shooting has taken place where residents believed, “it could never happen here,” but it did. And now we have people lining up on both sides of the gun debate which takes us nowhere, shooting after shooting.

Let’s start to solve the problem. As a gun owner I believe in the Second Amendment, and for the record, my firearms have harmed no one. But something has got to be done.

What could have been done to avoid Columbine, Sandy Hook and now Roseburg? All three, and many other incidents, have one thing in common — adults in the home of the shooter knowing their son was “troubled,” yet doing nothing.

When there are guns in the home, every adult in the home is responsible for those guns. Not taking action to keep guns out of the hands of a “troubled” youth is criminal negligence, and should be prosecuted. With gun ownership comes responsibility, a commodity which seems to be in short supply these days.

If a parent or spouse knew they could be held criminally liable for not taking action, perhaps some of those families in Roseburg would not be grieving their loss of loved ones right now.

Kennewick

This story was originally published October 29, 2015 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Letter: Prosecute adults who don’t keep guns out of troubled youths’ hands."