Merry Christmas! Will Santa bring you a gun?

This image of a c.1950’s United States family with a Christmas tree depicts a male child with a “toy” gun aiming it at his younger sister seated upon father’s lap.

Contrary to popular belief, it hasn’t been uncommon to gift children with deadly/lethal firearms around Christmastime.

And so, the mass shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford Township in suburban Detroit by Ethan Crumbley, whose parents James and Jennifer Crumbley gifted him with a pistol, were only doing what has for years been a rite — gifting kids with guns.

We give toys to children, and if a child abuses a baby doll, ripping off its head and limbs, burning and beating it, we would almost immediately suspect something is amiss, awry, and seriously wrong with the child who did such things to it.

But, we seem to have, or express, some faux sense of amazement, pseudo-bewilderment, disdainful incuriousity, or worse, apparently think little-to-nothing, of a mid-to-late teen who maliciously uses firearm(s) to kill people, though that is the ostensibly exclusive purpose (the “proper use”) for which they’re created.

On 30 November 2021, Ethan Crumbley, a 15-year-old sophomore student at Oxford High School in Oxford Township, Michigan, a Detroit suburb, murdered 4 students, injured 7, which included a teacher, with a high-capacity semi-automatic pistol gifted to him by his parents James and Jennifer Crumbley.

All 3 are charged with numerous felony violations of law — the son is being charged as an adult with:

• Terrorism resulting in death — 1 count
• First-degree murder — 4 counts
• Assault with intent to murder — 7 counts
• Possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony — 12 counts

His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, are charged with 4 counts each of Involuntary Manslaughter for the deaths of the 4 children.

18. U.S. Code § 1112 on manslaughter reads:

(a) Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice. It is of two kinds:

Voluntary—Upon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion.

Involuntary—In the commission of an unlawful act not amounting to a felony, or in the commission in an unlawful manner, or without due caution and circumspection, of a lawful act which might produce death.

(b) Within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States,

Whoever is guilty of involuntary manslaughter, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than eight years, or both.
——————————————————————

In other words, in order for the death of another human being to be considered involuntary manslaughter, the act that led to their death cannot be an illegal act, and it cannot have been done recklessly.

The reason and rationale for the Prosecutor’s decision to charge the parents, is for their willful negligence of their son which in turn, allowed him to kill, maim, and wound. Preliminary evidence has shown that Ethan had drawn pictures of the weapon (a high-capacity semi-automatic pistol used by the military, and national police forces of at least 9 nations), including the words “HELP!” not too long before he committed the crimes.

Oakland County Michigan Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Ethan Crumbley’s father James purchased the SIG Sauer P2022 high-capacity semi-automatic pistol on “Black Friday” — the Friday immediately after Thanksgiving, so-named for the high volume of retail sales made that day, which puts retailers “in the black” regarding profitability — just four days before the shooting.

Oakland County Michigan Prosecutor Karen McDonald said that “there is a mountain of digital evidence” against perpetrator Ethan Crumbley, and that the authorities “are confident it was premeditated,” and that more charges may be forthcoming as the investigation progresses.

Prosecutor McDonald also said that evidence showed Ethan started planning the attack “well before the incident. This isn’t even a close call. This was absolutely premeditated.”

Stressing parental responsibility, she said further that, “Owning a gun means securing it properly, locking it and keeping ammo separate and not allowing access to others, particularly minors. We have to hold individuals accountable.”

Prosecutor McDonald said that Ethan’s intent has so far been unclear, adding that there were no reports of him being bullied, and that he had no known mental health problems.

Oakland County Sheriff’s Deputy Lieutenant Tim Willis told Oakland County Judge Nancy Carniak that during an authorized search of the Crumbley’s home, there were “two separate videos recovered from Ethan’s cellphone made by him the night before the incident, wherein he talked about shooting and killing students the next day at Oxford High School.”

Deputy Willis also said that authorities found Ethan’s journal in Ethan’s backpack which was “detailing his desire to shoot up the school, to include murdering students.”

Deputy Willis also said that a review of social-media accounts showed that Ethan had access to a firearm and practiced with a Sig Sauer handgun.

Prosecutors also said that one of Ethan’s teachers saw pictures drawn by him, and photographed them. A note that accompanied one of the pictures read:
“The thoughts won’t stop, help me. My life in [sic] useless. The world is dead.”

Guns/Firearms are NOT “toys” and should NEVER be thought of, or treated as if they were toys. Firearms/Guns are exclusively weapons of death and destruction.

And so, as much as I am loathe to say this, it has apparently become sadly and tragically necessary for family members of Republican Members of Congress — children, even, especially, and particularly — to become the “sacrificial lambs” by becoming martyr victims of a mass/school shooting, BEFORE Congress acts to change firearms laws in our nation.

White House Press Secretary James S. Brady (in light blue trousers) lies face down (buttocks up) after being shot in the head by a .22 caliber long rifle bullet from a pistol used by attempted presidential assassin John Hinckley, Jr., on March 30, 1981. Mr. Brady sustained life-long injuries from the bullet which contained an explosive charge, and penetrated his brain just above the LEFT eye socket, and exploded, shattering his brain cavity. Upon Mr. Brady’s death in 2014, age 74, a coroner autopsied his body and ruled his death a homicide, stating that he likely would not have died had he not sustained injuries contributing to health complications leading to his death.

Protecting We The People -and- protecting our Constitutional rights has been done time, and time, and time again, and again. This is NOT an insurmountable obstacle, or dreaming “The Impossible Dream.” This is easy to do. It just takes willingness, and determination.

White House Press Secretary James S. Brady lies face-down after being shot in the head by an attempted assassin’s bullet intended for then-POTUS Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981.

Our nation’s firearms laws were ONLY changed when White House Press Secretary James S. Brady (1940-2014) was very nearly killed, and permanently seriously wounded, by a would-be assassin’s bullet from John W. Hinckley, Jr. (b.1955), intended for then-POTUS Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), who also sustained an injury (was shot by) by a ricocheting bullet which penetrated his lung, for which he received immediate surgical intervention to remove the bullet and stop the hemorrhaging.

And, it’s time for more juvenile sacrificial lambs. This time of Republican Members of Congress. Again, sadly, it seems that is the ONLY way change will come.

Because obviously, mass school shootings aren’t enough.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan winces and raises his left arm as he is shot by a ricocheting .22 caliber bullet fired by would-be assassin John W. Hinckley, Jr., outside the Washington Hilton on 30 March 1981, hit Reagan under the left arm, penetrated his lung and lodged an inch from his heart. This Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph was made by Ron Edmonds of the Associated Press.

Would-be assassin John W. Hinckley, Jr. — the Secret Service agent holding the Uzi machine gun has his hand upon Hinckley’s LEFT shoulder, ironically, protecting him, ostensibly from the assembled crowd (recall that Jack Ruby shot and killed JFK’s alleged presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald) — is quickly pressed against the wall by members of the President’s security detail, and Washington, D.C., police force, following Hinckley’s attempted assassination of then-President Ronald Reagan 30 March 1981 at the Washington, D.C. Hilton hotel. Hinckley fired six .22 caliber rounds in 2 seconds, one which struck White House Press Secretary James. S. Brady’s head, nearly killing him, and permanently partially paralyzing him, and a round ricocheting off the presidential limousine entered President Reagan’s LEFT side.