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Will Prosecuting Educators, Parents Slow Gun Violence?

In Virginia, an assistant principal is charged with child abuse after failing to intervene before a 6-year-old shot his first-grade teacher. A Michigan couple is sentenced to a decade in prison for failing to stop their 15-year-old son from gunning down four high-school classmates. In Illinois, a father pleads guilty to reckless misconduct after his son killed seven people at a Fourth of July parade, USA Today reports. The cases represent a new type of weapon in the gun violence epidemic: a prosecutorial one. New legal approaches and laws are widening the scope of accountability for those who not only pull triggers, but also for educators, parents and others who fail to report red flags. Prosecutors and lawmakers are increasingly taking aim at people who could have taken steps before innocent victims were maimed or killed.


"As far as I know, this is really groundbreaking," said James Ellenson, a lawyer for Deja Taylor, the mother of the 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in Virginia, citing the criminal charges against the school official in the case. A special grand jury released a report Wednesday outlining failures by the school administration. For decades, parents of school shooting victims and gun control advocates have looked to Congress to pass legislation that would prevent mass shootings by regulating firearms. Those proposals have largely failed amid backlash from gun rights advocacy groups, conservative lawmakers and gun owners. Now, prosecutors are stepping in. While it is still rare for parents or guardians of a shooting suspect to be charged, the successful outcome could encourage other prosecutors to pursue similar cases, legal experts say.

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