75yr old man kills 13yr kid

[slackmaster]

68. I doubt that Spooner was crazy or paranoid when he acquired firearms

He's been around for 75 years. If he was always a nut case, he wouldn't have survived so long as a free person.

I'm wondering why nobody disarmed him.

ETA Dealing with the decision that a parent, aunt, uncle, etc. is no longer capable of managing his or her affairs is one of the most difficult passages that most families eventually face. I've learned a lot about dementia, and about mental illness in general, in the past 10 years. No matter how well prepared you think you are, when the time comes telling Mom or Dad that you need to take over the bank accounts or take away the car keys is always painful. Someone who has become paranoid and delusional should certainly have firearms taken away or disabled. Getting a person declared as mentally incompetent by a court of law, which is necessary for government to step in, is extremely difficult (as it should be.) Families need to step in and do the right thing when government can't.

I think it's significant, and probably tragic, that none of Mr. Spooner's "adult children" have responded to questions from the media. I suspect that what has happened in that family is that Spooner got so difficult to be around with that nobody wanted to deal with his crap.

That may turn out to be totally wrong wild speculation, but I've seen it happen so many times I will not be even slightly surprised if that turns out to be the case.