A 14-year-old boy allegedly fatally shot his older sister in Florida after a family argument over Christmas presents, officials said Tuesday.
The teen had been out shopping on Christmas Eve with Abrielle Baldwin, his 23-year-old sister, as well as his mother, 15-year-old brother and sister’s children, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during a news conference.
The teenage brothers got into an argument about who was getting more Christmas presents.
“They had this family spat about who was getting what and what money was being spent on who, and they were having this big thing going on in this store,” Gualtieri said.
I can think of plenty of laws that would keep these kids from getting guns.
I can even think of many that would keep these kids from getting guns without depriving their victims of the weapons needed to stop their burglaries and other crimes of violence.
The legal efforts that would affect these two particular delinquents would have been effective poverty controls, such as universal healthcare, universal basic income, and various other benefits and protections for their parents. First time homebuyer grants, education grants, reproductive rights, care, and counseling, to help them determine if and when they should become parents. Destigmatized access to abortion when they find they pregnant before that time, and other efforts to increase the age of parenthood to the point that the parents are financially stable and sufficiently responsible and capable of raising, nurturing, and providing the kind of opportunities that all children deserve.
But yes, let’s go ahead and pretend the problem is the fucking guns. Let’s pretend that their entire lives haven’t been a complete fucking disaster for the past 14/15/23 years, and self-righteously point out “Hurr, Durr, they ban guns in England”.
No child should ever have to endure the lifestyle necessary to have a burglary record at the age of 14. When we convince their teenage and 20-something parents to abort their destined-for-delinquency surprise pregnancies, save their money, invest in themselves, and wait until their 30’s to start a thriving family, we will actually address the root problem.