It will be small recompense when the parents find out there is no money to be had. its not like these people are tycoons.
But the father should be locked up along side the kid. Once fathers see that they can be held accountable, they should be a lot more careful.
We had a similar event in Tampa - in our neighborhood. A father - who was a cop of all people - had a loaded gun in his bedroom. His argument was the bedroom door was locked. But his kid had friends over and they were smoking pot and playing video games. One of the friends said he was looking for a bathroom - gets into the bedroom, gets the gun and thinks its fun to play with.
Shoots the kid who lives there in the head, kills him. This father paid the ultimate price for his stupidity, as he lost his own child. I was SOOO fucking pissed off. So avoidable.
True but the lawsuits act as a faster chilling effect for states without such criminal negligence laws. Home owners insurance rates will go up for gun owners knowing they can be liable and incentives offered for gun locks, gun safes, fingerprint locks etc.. Gun owners might be finally scared straight to not leave loaded guns loosely lying around.
I agree prison is a better deterrent but I dont think there are enough laws in the 50 states for parents to get sentenced so it will take awhile for each state to enact such laws WHILE fighting the NRA.
Lawsuits are the quicker way until legislation catches up.
Hopefully in Michigan the dad will be charged because knowing you can go to prison for 20 years as an accessory to murder should wake these fucktards up who think owning a gun is like having toy in the house.