Sometimes the right thing gets done for the wrong reason.

There have been horrific numbers of senseless mass shootings in American over the last few years; many of them committed by juveniles at schools. Easy access to so many guns has a lot to do with the USA’s world’s worst record in this regard. So many deadly shootings by minors with guns, and so far, little or no accountability by the adults who facilitated this access to guns. Finally, some legal action that addresses this problem has occurred. There is a poster “child” for this action: Jenniffer Crumbley. Jenniffer Crumbley has been convicted of “manslaughter”. Her son (too young to purchase a gun) shot and killed four students (and injured seven) at his school four days after he got his “early Christmas present”. He was given his first gun, a semi-automatic pistol. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. But the result of the trial of his mother, Jennifer, is truly Kafkaesque. She was likely convicted for saying: “LOL”, at least in part. That text by her to her son is cause for us to believe that she may be an awful person. In The Trial, by Franz Kafka, Josef K., is accused of murder. The trial is conducted entirely by non sequitur and often irrelevant declarations by witnesses and prosecutors. But the instance where the defendant couldn’t respond coherently to questions about the level of love he held for his mother was key to his conviction. His choice of language was his undoing. It is not only in fiction that the judicial process appears to be a cipher. If we could believe that Josef K. was really an awful person, then it might have been justice that he would receive the guilty verdict we all assume ensues at the end of The Trial. But of course, he was really convicted for not saying that he loved his mother. His jury concluded that he was awful. It is not that I believe that the Crumbley trial was flawed, beyond the flaws common to all trials (like The Trial) or that it lacked compelling evidence of her culpability. But I also believe that Jenifer Crumley is an awful person. She also deserves to be held responsible for her son’s access to a semi-automatic pistol. She is responsible for him being able to take it to his school. I also believe that she has been convicted because she said, “LOL”. I’m actually OK with that. Thousands of American households with guns will have adults that think twice about allowing "troubled" children to have access to those weapons. This will save some lives. Sometimes the right thing gets done for the wrong reason.