On Tuesday morning, it took less than two hours for a jury to deliberate and reach a conclusion: that Colin Gray held responsibility for his son Colt’s murderous rampage in Apalachee High School in Georgia.
He’s not the first parent to be convicted as a result of their child’s actions with a firearm, and like the others, the specifics of his case stand out. He didn’t merely give his child access to a gun, the prosecution successfully argued, but acted in a way that actively endangered others.
It’s one more ruling emphasizing that parental duty to children includes an obligation to make judicious choices about gun safety and access.
Colt Gray & The Early Warnings
After a school shooting, there’s always the discussion of warning signs that may have been overlooked, ignored, or misunderstood. In the case of Colt Gray, though, law enforcement acknowledged the signs, and Colin Gray was well aware of the concern.
According to the BBC, that warning came in May of 2023, almost a year and a half before the younger Gray carried a rifle to school, where he is accused (his case is still awaiting trial) of killing two teachers and two students, and injuring more than half a dozen others.
At that time, Colt denied making the threats, and Colin assured law enforcement that, while there were weapons in the home, his thirteen-year-old son had no access to them.
Then, for Christmas that year, he bought his son a semi-automatic rifle.
The prosecution made a case that Colin Gray didn’t just give his child access to a weapon, but bought one for him after seeing the teen’s mental health deteriorate, his obsession with school shootings develop, and his violent tendencies increase.
Does Your Teen Have Access To Firearms?
In the United States, close to half of all households (42%) have at least one firearm, according to Pew Research, and most adults who currently own guns grew up in homes with guns.
Do the parents of teens have a realistic understanding, though, of how accessible their weapons are to their children?
A 2021 survey published in Pediatrics found that most parents (including those who reported having a firearm in their home, and those who said they do not own a gun) say their kids don’t have access to guns.
Their kids disagree.
While 70% of parents said their kids could not access a gun (whether that’s because they don’t have one in the household or because they believe it’s adequately secured), 20% of those same kids said they could have a loaded gun in hand in under five minutes. More than a third (37%) said they could have one inside an hour.
Since it’s self-reporting, it may be up to individual interpretation whether that’s parental lack of awareness or teenage false bravado. It’s a strong sign, though, that parents (especially those who have firearms at home) need to check in with their kids and be very sure of the security of these weapons.
Parental Responsibility
Parents are not held legally accountable for every gun-related incident involving their children.
Every year, there are accidental shootings by children, and in recent years, there have been school shootings, often with guns belonging to the parents of the shooter. There are also children every year who take their own lives using a firearm belonging to their parents. (According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, about 67% of these involve a firearm that was stored unlocked, and 78% involve one that was stored loaded.)
However, criminal charges against parents are few and far between, even in states where safe-storage laws outline guidelines for such charges.
This conviction for Colin Gray is an outlier, and follows unusual circumstances in which he was shown to have made a string of choices that enabled his son’s actions.
For many parents, though, the consequences of a too-accessible firearm will come not with criminal charges, but with the loss of their own precious child.
There may be increasing legal responsibility for unsecured firearms, but the ethical duty isn’t new.
What Should Parents Do?
Project Childsafe is a firearms safety program associated with the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
They promote safe storage of firearms, not only to protect children but to prevent theft and other unauthorized access.
They also offer educational videos and other materials to help parents talk to their children about gun safety at any age. The organization partners with law enforcement entities around the country to provide safety kits.
They also partner with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to provide additional resources for talking to your child about mental health and recognizing warning signs.
Parents must ensure that, if there are firearms in the home, they are secure. The best option is a locked gun safe with ammunition stored separately.
It’s also wise to teach kids age-appropriate gun safety (which starts with treating every gun as though it is loaded, even if you don’t believe it is), whether or not there’s a gun in the home, because it’s always possible they’ll encounter one elsewhere.
Mental health struggles in teens won’t always be apparent and clear-cut. It’s not always easy to tell the difference between the typical angst of adolescence and serious mental health struggles that put our kids in danger, especially since teens may try to hide symptoms. Parents may miss these signs, even when they put in the effort, but that effort is nonetheless necessary.