10-year-old boy confesses to fatally shooting a man in his sleep 2 years ago, Texas authorities say

girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to News@lemmy.world – 448 points – 10-year-old boy confesses to fatally shooting a man in his sleep 2 years ago, Texas authorities say
apnews.com

Brandon O’Quinn Rasberry, 32, was shot in the head in 2022 while he slept at an RV park in Nixon, Texas, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of San Antonio, investigators said. He had just moved in a few days before.

The boy’s possible connection to the case was uncovered after sheriff’s deputies were contacted on April 12 of this year about a student who threatened to assault and kill another student on a school bus. They learned the boy had made previous statements that he had killed someone two years ago.

The boy was taken to a child advocacy center, where he described for interviewers details of Rasberry’s death “consistent with first-hand knowledge” of the crime, investigators said.

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I don't know man, I find it hard to believe that a child can just stumble upon a gun if they weren't that common and the discourse around it wasn't so brain-dead.

Such cases are pretty rare though. I'd argue two things:

  • Had applicable law been followed, this would not have happened.
  • The kid is the problem, not the gun. The kid taking the gun and shooting someone is a symptom. Something is horribly wrong with that kid, and gun control won't fix it.

There are problematic kids, teens and adults. We need to protect the guns from them by locking the guns up and not letting them be anywhere near problematic people by basically making them really, really hard to obtain. People need to be thoroughly investigated to ensure they don't end up giving guns the bad name. That way problematic people won't touch our precious guns.

I completely agree with that. But maybe, just maybe, we can try to help them with the problems instead of only restricting their access to guns. Again, fix the causes, not the symptoms. Fix poverty, establish proper welfare, provide affordable (universal) health care. It's really not rocket science. The debate for stricter gun control is a distraction from the actual problems/causes.

Why not both?

Edit: surely fixing poverty and uplifting mental health in this high anxiety pandemic is a much harder problem than, checks notes, gun control.

It's not not done because it is difficult. It's not done because it is not profitable for those in power.

Yeah ... blame the small child instead of the institution that allows millions of guns to be owned by almost anyone who wants one.

That's a really stupid take on what I said.

Could it be, that the real problem is criminality caused by poverty and dysfunctional social systems?

You flat out said it.

The kid is the problem, not the gun.