Rebuilding Rob

Yesterday, James Crumbley, the father of the Oxford High School shooting perpetrator Ethan Crumbley, was found guilty of manslaughter yesterday in a Michigan court yesterday, as explained in this CNN article. Crumbley’s wife, Jennifer, was also found guilty of manslaughter in a separate trial earlier.

I tried as hard as I could to bury my head in the sand and ignore this story; not because I don’t care, but rather because I care too much. These stories outrage me. I’m sick to death of hearing about school shootings. I’m livid abut the fact that the NRA has essentially taken the position any weapons short of hand-held tactical nuclear devices out of citizens’ hands is a violation of the second amendment. And I’m sick to death that America STILL does not take mental health seriously. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: when NOTHING changed in this country after the Sandy Hook mass shooting – when I realized that our politicians won’t even protect the youngest and most vulnerable members of our society – I knew that we are damned as a society.

As you can tell by my rant above, this verdict has done nothing to set my mind at ease about either the gun or the mental health crises affecting our country today.

This verdict has touched me on multiple levels. First and foremost, any school shooting is a horrific tragedy that, in my opinion, is an indictment with our country’s apathetic attituded toward not only gun control, but mental health as well.

As a local resident

If affects me as a local resident. Oxford is roughly 30 minutes from where I live. Whenever a serious crime takes place in or near your hometown, it makes you think. My older brother lived in Oxford for a brief time himself. If things had turned out differently for him, he may very well have had kids of his own attending Oxford schools at the time of the shooting.

As a school teacher

It affects me as a school teacher. This is what I do for a living. Unfortunately, given the sorry-as state of affairs in our country today, school shootings have become a part of life. They are horrific tragedies; and like plane crashes, they are still somewhat freak occurrences. But they have become a part of the fabric of our lives. Admittedly, as a school teacher, its not something I think about on a daily basis; but the threat is always there. I’ve worked in neighborhoods and schools that were a hell of a lot more susceptible to crime than Oxford, Michigan – which only goes to proves that no place is immune from this anymore.

And before anyone asks: If I was asked or required to carry a firearm as a school teacher, I would resign, immediately. If I wanted to be a police officer or a soldier, I would have gone to the police academy or enlisted in the military. I have the utmost respect for both of those professions (The Old Man was a police officer and served in the Army prior to that) but I became a teacher…to teach.

As a parent

Last, and in this case in particular, this affects me as a parent. There have been other cases involving kids committing crimes, even murder, where the parents faced some legal accountability. But the Oxford case is a first in the nation. This is the first time that parents have been charged and convicted of a crime so severely in a situation such as this.

Most of our legal system is based in precedent set in earlier court cases. What do the convictions of Jennifer and James Crumbley mean for parents whose children commit crimes in the future? As I said earlier, other parents have been charged with crimes related to their children’s actions. The Crumbley convictions, however, have now taken things to an entirely different level. I do think, after hearing about the events and actions (or lack thereof) by Crumbley’s parents leading up to the shooting, that this is a rather exceptional. Nevertheless, legal precedent has been set.

Local news interrupted our local and network TV programming last night with the verdict. To be honest, I wasn’t surprised by the ruling at all; given that Crumbley’s mother was convicted on the same charges a few weeks prior. When it was said in court previously Crumbley’s dad bought him the gun used in the shotting, I knew he was toast. I didn’t even bother watching the live announcement of the verdict.

I feel sick now. I need to take a shower. Or go work out. Or both; just maybe not in that order. But I will leave you now with the same parting thought that I post to social media after any mass shooting: As long as Americans love our guns more than we love each other – or our children – THIS WILL CONTINUE TO HAPPEN.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts:

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• A Death in the Family (And My Disposable Income): My Life in Comics
• The Supporting Cast: Navigating the Eras of Male Friendship
• Life is What Happens: A Look Back at My Non-Existent 2025 Vision
• The Moment I Walked Inside a Hallmark Movie

The article “Rob Reacts: Jurors found a teen school shooter’s father and mother guilty of manslaughter…” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.