Oregon Gun Laws Complicate Liability in 4-Death Bend School Shooting
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Oct 19
Oregon Gun Laws Complicate Liability in 4-Death Bend School Shooting
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 19
Summary
Oregon law may leave no one criminally accountable beyond the dead 16-year-old gunman, even though police say his mother bought the Maverick 88 shotgun used in the Bend elementary school attack.
State rules and local gun culture make that a high bar: legal experts said giving a 16-year-old a shotgun is common practice in Oregon and does not by itself create criminal or civil liability.
Four days after the shooting, investigators still had not said how Griffin J. John II obtained the weapon before he jumped a fence, shot through a locked side entrance and killed three children and a teacher.
The attack on Silver Rail Elementary's 450 students has left schools closed, events canceled and residents demanding answers, even as the law may limit who can be charged.