This post originally appeared at https://www.bootsandsabers.com/2025/05/09/dad-of-school-shooter-charged-with-felonies/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dad-of-school-shooter-charged-with-felonies
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
MADISON, Wis. — The father of the 15-year-old girl who opened fire at Abundant Life Christian School last December, killing two people and injuring six more is in custody, online records show.
[…]
However, evidence collected from the Rupnows’ home and further testimony from Rupnow show his child had access to numerous guns while he was aware of her ongoing mental health struggles.
According to the complaint, Rupnow told police on the day of the shooting that he had 12 guns at his home, locked in a safe. However, police allegedly only found eight of those firearms when searching the home.
The complaint alleges that Rupnow took one of the guns out of the safe the day before the shooting at his daughter’s request, and he later told investigators that he couldn’t remember if the gun was returned before he closed the safe back up.
[…]
Jeffrey Rupnow had previously been questioned about his daughter’s suicidal tendencies in 2021. At the time he said he didn’t take things seriously. In 2022, Madison police spoke to him about high-risk behavior the eventual shooter was engaging in on the internet.
When asked why he allowed his daughter to unpack and pack the gun safe, Rupnow allegedly told investigators “I didn’t feel like I needed to babysit her with this.”
In general, I am in favor of charging negligent or criminal people who facilitate someone else committing a crime – even if that other person is their kid. Details matter here, though. In this case, it appears that the dad knew his daughter was not mentally stable and still gave her free and unsupervised access to guns. If those facts are true, then it rises to the level of negligence, at least.
What I worry about is prosecutors going too far. It is not a crime to have guns in your home. It is also not a crime to have unsecured guns in your home. It is a good idea if you have small or mentally disturbed children around, but if your kids are normal, responsible teenagers, it could be perfectly acceptable to have unsecured guns in your home. For generations, this was normal behavior. We don’t want our government to criminalize the “keep” part of the 2nd Amendment.