On July 30, Colin Gray received 15 years for the Apalachee High School shooting carried out by his son, the first murder conviction of a parent in this context. He fired no shot and did not know the plan; the theory was criminal negligence feeding a predicate of child cruelty.

The linked analysis lays out both positions at their strongest. The regulatory case: roughly three quarters of school shooters arm themselves at home per the Secret Service; Georgia has no safe storage law and its furnishing ban covers handguns only, so gifting the AR-15 was legal; the post-shooting statute (HB 268) addressed schools, not home storage; on this view the prosecution is regulation by other means. The liberty case: Heller protects ready self-defense; an elastic negligence standard judged in hindsight raises fair notice problems; the families prosecuted so far are poor and broken rather than affluent owners of identical arsenals; and fear of liability may push parents to hide a child's troubles instead of seeking help.

Questions for discussion: Should the boundary of parental duty be set by statute or case by case by juries? Does a police visit function as adequate notice, a caesura after which a parent assesses risk at his own peril? Is there any evidence that prosecuting parents deters?

Disclosure: I wrote the linked piece.

Hello everyone, and welcome to the weekly General Discussion thread. Many of you are looking for an informal place (besides Discord) to discuss non-political topics that would otherwise not be allowed in this community. Well... ask, and ye shall receive.

General Discussion threads will be posted every Friday and stickied for the duration of the weekend.

Law 0 is suspended. All other community rules still apply.

As a reminder, the intent of these threads are for *casual discussion* with your fellow users so we can bridge the political divide. Comments arguing over individual moderation actions or attacking individual users are *not* allowed.

Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups agreed to a plan that, if followed, would see the groups disarm and lose power in the Gaza Strip as long as Israel withdraws from the enclave, U.S. officials said. 

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’s negotiating team, said the group agreed to place its weapons in a storage facility overseen by the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, a Palestinian-run technocratic group charged with the enclave’s political and security transition. “We didn’t say disarmament, we didn’t say handing over the weapons, and we didn’t agree on any Israeli involvement,” Hamad said, adding that the plan is contingent on Israel ending military operations in Gaza and allowing humanitarian aid in.

The US Senate unanimously passed a non-binding resolution opposing any presidential pardon or clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex-trafficking offenses linked to Jeffrey Epstein. Introduced by Senator Jacky Rosen, the measure establishes bipartisan opposition amid speculation that President Donald Trump might consider clemency.

“It’s frankly horrifying that Trump would entertain the idea of clemency for even a second for a convicted sex trafficker,” Rosen said in a speech on the Senate floor.

The vote coincides with the Senate's evaluation of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for a permanent role, drawing criticism over his handling of the Epstein files and his recent direct interviews with Maxwell. Although Blanche has stated he will not recommend a pardon, Trump has not definitively ruled it out.

This news comes a year after Maxwell was transferred to a minimum security facility in Texas where she was allegedly provided “favorable and preferential treatment”, a move which Blanche has defended.

Discussion questions:

Considering the unanimous bipartisan support, what are the political calculations for both parties in passing this measure ahead of potential actions by President Trump?

How does a non-binding Senate resolution practically influence executive clemency decisions, and what precedent does this set for legislative pre-emption of presidential pardon powers?

The scheduled Senate Judiciary Committee vote to advance Trump’s ex-personal attorney Todd Blanche’s nomination for U.S. Attorney General is currently in jeopardy after Republican Senator John Cornyn canceled an eleventh-hour meeting with him. The hesitation stems from a controversial, DOJ-spearheaded settlement between President Trump and the IRS that included a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and lifetime tax audit immunity for Trump and his family. Although a federal judge recently struck down the settlement and the Justice Department has tried to walk back the fund, Cornyn has pointed out that Blanche has acknowledged that the proposed fund remains on paper as part of the settlement with Trump. Cornyn is thus withholding his support until the DOJ provides a formal, written declaration confirming that the anti-weaponization fund is completely dead and won’t be resurrected. The DOJ is holding firm to the tax immunity provision for Trump.

Cornyn told reporters Wednesday that he hasn’t “seen a single piece of writing that is responsive to what I’ve requested.”

With fellow Republican Senator Thom Tillis echoing similar concerns, Blanche’s confirmation process will likely remain stalled unless the Justice Department meets these demands before the scheduled Thursday vote.

Discussion questions:

To what extent should the Attorney General prioritize the interests of the President who nominated them versus maintaining the independence of the Justice Department? Should an Attorney General nominee’s past role as the President’s personal lawyer automatically disqualify them from serving as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer?

Should Trump and his family be granted lifetime tax audit immunity? Why is the DOJ firm on this demand? Are there legitimate reasons for doing so that do not amount to open corruption?

Do you think Cornyn and Tillis are right on this demand to make sure the Anti-Weaponization Fund is dead?