“I was going to go down swinging” sounds like a remark that a dejected Little League player would make after an unsuccessful effort to hit a baseball in a big spot on a sunny spring day. It is not. This comment was made on national television by a brave 12-year-old boy who was locked in his classroom after shots were fired in his school in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. He was clutching an aluminum baseball bat for protection.

The scourge of school violence deeply troubles all Americans. With each passing year more and more of these disastrous incidents occur. They have become some type of perverted commonplace event in our country. We have grown uncomfortably accustomed to students fleeing their schools and colleges with their hands in the air followed by a casualty report. In recent events we have begun to hear stories of courageous, unarmed students and teachers grappling with their assailants often with deadly results. The latest being 18-year-old Kendrick Castillo, who heroically lost his life protecting his fellow students at the STEM School in Highlands Ranch. Can the law be used in some manner to attempt to stem this plague of death? It can.

All states have laws which criminalize conduct by adults which expose minors to harm. In Connecticut, that crime is risk of injury to a minor. It is a felony punishable by a maximum period of 10 years of incarceration. Generally, its elements require conduct which exposes a minor to the risk of physical or moral harm. People in Connecticut are prosecuted under this statute for giving a minor a beer. Is it any great leap of logic or law to say that an adult should not make a firearm available to a troubled youth? Should not the law demand that a parent/guardian be held criminally responsible for a minor gaining access to a firearm when the adult is aware that a minor is exhibiting dangerous behaviors?

Likewise, all states have laws that prohibit conduct which recklessly exposes people to the risk of serious bodily harm. In Connecticut, we have the crime of reckless endangerment, which punishes those who recklessly engage in conduct which creates a risk of serious physical injury to others. In a similar vein, should not the law demand that any person be held criminally responsible for an adult gaining access to a firearm when that person demonstrates threatening propensities.

Many of these shooters have demonstrated significant behavioral problems before these violent episodes. There is no more tragic example of this then the troubled life of Adam Lanza, who was responsible for the brutal murder of students and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The law properly places reasonable burdens on the citizens of this country to conform their behavior for the public good. It is high time that prosecutors and courts begin to hold criminally irresponsible individuals, who permit these murderous people access to firearms, responsible for their actions. It may not end this problem but it will certainly put people on notice that should they ignore the potential danger presented by this access to guns, they will face the criminal justice system.

Maybe someday 12-year-old boys and girls can go back to worrying about baseball games.