It is not the intent here to either support or condemn gun ownership or gun control.  It is to remind people of an issue that tends to be glossed over or forgotten: some people just should not have guns, whether the law says they can or not.

In October of 2021, my wife received that late-night phone call dreaded by all parents.  Her oldest daughter, who lived in Denver, Colorado, was in emergency surgery for a gunshot to the head.  After four grueling days at the hospital, trying to hope for the best while knowing there was no such thing, my wife had to make the decision to remove the ventilator and watch her daughter's life ebb away. This is a decision that should have been for the husband to make.

He couldn't, though.  He was in police custody, and has been since, awaiting trial for her murder and a likely conviction and a life sentence in prison. 

They had one last bitter argument, perhaps over the spy app he had placed on her phone, or over his frequent (and current) drunkenness.  She told him she was finally leaving him.  No one knows exactly what happened in their living room that night, but the coroner's report and the crime scene photos certainly indicate homicide, despite his claim that she did it herself.

While this was happening, his father was waiting outside the house with their two-year-old son.

He is a twice-convicted felon, at least once for violence, both when they lived in Wyoming.  The guns he owned at the time should have been confiscated, but she made the poor choice of hiding them for him, each time.

They never kept friends for long.  Once people started figuring him out, they were cut off.  So while others knew of his violent tendencies, his drinking problem, and the existence of said guns, apparently, none knew of his felony record.  Also, it seems that the only person who knew of the state's "red flag" law was I, in Wyoming.

Whether you think the so-called red flag laws are for good or evil, this is one instance in which they should have been used.

It may not have changed the ultimate outcome, but it's possible it might have.  There are enough what-ifs to go around for every view on guns, but these facts remain: one man will (likely) have to testify against his own son in a murder trial, and one young boy will now grow up never knowing the mother who was trying hard to raise him well, or the father who just didn't give a damn.

Image: Pixabay.