This spring marked a new era regarding how legal exposure can extend to parents of children with serious mental illness and a capacity for violence. In March, two separate juries found the parents of Oxford school shooter Ethan Crumbley guilty of manslaughter, with a judge sentencing them to at least 10 years in prison in April. To be clear, the majority of individuals with serious mental illness are not violent; quite the contrary.

As discussed in a previous post, this ruling should serve as a wake-up call for gun owners with children, prompting them to think more seriously about the responsibility they might one day have to take for the potential actions of dependents experiencing serious crises or emotional distress. That said, parents who are not gun owners also have reason to reflect on this development and consider how to best protect their children, families, communities and themselves.

While approximately 44% of U.S.........

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