The gun supposedly belonged to the mother so if letting your six year old get a hold of it and take it to school is not negligent I don't know what is.
The casual approach to gun ownership and use in the USA is appalling.

@SeaGreenEyez Thanks for the information. Stories are not always so obvious as many of us would assume. I wonder why the parents bought a gun in the first place and whether, in light of what's happened if they will keep it.

@SeaGreenEyez Maybe with all the threats and hate mail they get makes them want to get more guns.

@SeaGreenEyez My comment was about the parents. When people get hate mail and threats their natural tendency is to find ways of protecting themselves. Guns are a natural choice. I (or rather my ghost) posted several times about a study done in Germany about how owning a gun actually changes people. Guns often become a form of drug and once one has one they are more apt to use it for even minor issues. Most of the teachers I've known are not hard conservatives. Liberalism often is about education levels and teachers are more educated than a lot of people. My late partner was a teacher and was heads and shoulders smarter than the average person (and I'm not being prejudiced others have said the same thing).

@SeaGreenEyez For some strange reason I adopted learning and knowledge as a life's endeavor. I was, luckily, born with an eclectic mind with a lot of interests. Also, for some strange reason a lot of different experiences have come my way, to further learning and a lust for knowledge.

@SeaGreenEyez I just looked and 25 states have dropped any minimum age for prosecution. A couple states go as high as 12. There are articles on how the conservatives are blowing that away - just one more way to crush the poor and the downtrodden. Force everyone to have babies and then lock them up for prison labor.