Glad to See Firearms Card Sponsor Charged

biku324

biku324

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Remember the Highland Park mass shooting?

The father of the alleged gunman from the Highland Park mass shooting was charged with seven counts of reckless conduct, Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart announced Friday afternoon.

Robert E. Crimo III is accused of fatally shooting seven people and wounding dozens of others who lined the streets of Highland Park for its Fourth of July parade earlier this year.

In 2019, Robert Crimo Jr. sponsored his son's application for a gun permit because Crimo III was underage at the time. In early 2020, Crimo III obtained a state firearm owner's identification card, despite his previous threats to kill himself and his family, authorities said back in July.

"Robert Crimo Jr., the father, took a reckless and unjustified risk to sign his son's application for a firearm owner identification card," Rinehart said.

Each count is for the seven people who were killed. Crimo Jr. surrendered Friday and will appear in court Saturday, where a judge will set his bond.

If convicted, Rinehart said, Crimo Jr. faces up to three years in prison.

Robert Crimo Jr., father of accused Highland Park shooter, charged with reckless conduct - Chicago Sun-Times
 
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Only 3 years max? I guess reckless conduct is a lesser charge than it would be for 7 murders and dozens wounded. I suppose with a clean record, good lawyer, etc., he'll get ARD and parole/probation. Robert the 3rd has probably taken his last breath of free air.
 
Nope - sorry. Remember Nancy Lanza?

The Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle Lanza used in the elementary school, as well as the four other weapons recovered from the crime scenes, belonged to his mother. She purchased them legally, and had a permit for their use. The report doesn't make it clear whether Nancy Lanza had the weapons locked away in her home or whether her son had free access to them.

Adam Lanza frequently went target shooting with his mother and brother between 2010 and 2012, and had taken rifle safety classes with them. Fifty-two-year-old Nancy Lanza used target practice as a way to bond with her withdrawn and troubled son, according to a February Hartford Courant/Frontline investigation.

Sandy Hook report: Shooter's mom wanted to buy him gun for Christmas
 
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sjbrdn said:
I think I'll walk a mile in the father's shoes before I throw stones at him. I'm sure there's more to the story. Let's not forget what area of the country this is and how trustworthy the media is.
Click to expand...

A few feet in his shoes... But no more.
This is a hairy case where the field of who can be charged for a particular crime is expanding
 
I speak from experience when I say that there is NO way to know what your children are going to do. No parent is a mind reader.

His father will have to live with this the rest of his life. Why destroy him? At least not until all the facts are exposed in an unbiased atmosphere-if that's even possible.

Too easy to blame and point fingers. I just saw on the news two more police officers charged with murder for what is most likely an accidental shooting. They'll have to live with the shooting. Now they have to spend their life savings trying to stay out of prison and possibly still wind up there.

Too easy to blame when we don't know the facts.
 
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sjbrdn said:
I speak from experience when I say that there is NO way to know what your children are going to do. No parent is a mind reader.

His father will have to live with this the rest of his life. Why destroy him? At least not until all the facts are exposed in an unbiased atmosphere-if that's even possible.

To easy to blame and point fingers. I just saw on the news two more police officers charged with murder for what is most likely an accidental shooting. They'll have to live with the shooting. Now they have to spend their life savings trying to stay out of prison and possibly still wind up there.

Too easy to blame when we don't know the facts.
Click to expand...

What's charged is the murderer had mental illness for years; his parents knew and were involved in his varied treatments. He threatened to kill them. Before his father sponsored the gun ownercard.

Crimo helped his son, Robert "Bobby" Crimo III, secure weapons despite the 21-year-old's history of mental illness and threats of violence, prosecutors allege.

Robert Crimo's father charged for helping son buy firearms

And:

"Parents and guardians are in the best position to decide whether their teenagers should have a weapon," Rinehart said. "In this case, the system failed when Robert Crimo Jr. sponsored his son. He knew what he knew and he signed the form anyway."


Rinehart wouldn't further discuss what led his office to file the charges this week. Authorities have previously said the accused shooter, Robert Crimo III, attempted suicide by machete in April 2019 and in September 2019 was accused by a family member of making threats to "kill everyone."

Both those reports came months before Crimo Jr. sponsored his son's application in December 2019.
Father of July 4 shooting suspect charged with 7 felonies - POLITICO
 
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That was all 2 1/2 to 3 years before the shooting.

How many people lived next door to mass murderers and never new it. They all say, "We knew something was a little off..." but what are you supposed to do about it?

If I turned in everybody I thought was weird, the police department would be sick of me.

Children say stupid stuff all the time and don't mean it. Hindsight is always 20/20.

I'm not defending the man because I don't know all the facts. That's my point, neither do you. This is in the Chicago metropolitan area. I don't trust them either. They're anti-gun.

If we're going to start arresting the parents and siblings of murderers because they didn't lock up all their guns...look out. Let's not forget the manufacturer of the gun also. And the ammo maker. And the manufacturer of the car he drove...

We all know criminals don't follow gun laws. They get their guns illegally and commit crimes but we, the lawful gun owners, get saddled with the gun restrictions to stop crime. If this young man hadn't gotten a gun from his father, he would have found one somewhere else. We all know there are plenty of guns in Chicago.

Again, I don't know all the facts...that's why I'm not jumping on the band wagon to throw the man in jail. Lack of foresight is not, to my knowledge, a crime. Let's see what real evidence the prosecutor can come up with that's not 2 1/2 years prior to the act.
 
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You misunderstand - the father knew of the 2 machete suicide attempts and the chronic mental illness a couple of months before he sponsored his son for a firearms ownercard. That is just stupid and reckless. And criminal, as his son clearly was not eligible to own a firearm because of the mental illness and the violent attacks, not just the death threats.

These are 'clues.'
 
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But that was all 2 1/2 years before the heinous act. Was the father wise? Probably not. We don't know the family dynamics or what was going on. Only what we've been told. Hindsight is 20/20. But are we going to throw him in prison for what his son does 2 1/2 years later?

Show me some more recent evidence of the father aiding the son in this horrible act.

That's my point. We don't know, maybe the prosecutors do and will reveal in time, but it's not for us to judge until they do.
 
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"....In 2019, Robert Crimo Jr. sponsored his son's application for a gun permit because Crimo III was underage at the time. In early 2020, Crimo III obtained a state firearm owner's identification card, despite his previous threats to kill himself and his family...."

OK,,Dad, 'sponsored' Skippy, his son by signing Skippy's application for a Firearms License/Permit.
Skippy was underage at the time.

Dad did not Issue the Firearms License.

The State of Ill issued the FOID license.
Since the Application is just that,,,an application for the issuance of the license,,,and the final decision is with the State of Illinois..
Does not the State of Illinois bear the responsibility for that issuance?

The State I would assume would tell you that they investigate the applicant, before issuance.
Or is there no record(s) available on this 'underage' individual?

No local PD record of the Suicide attempt(s)
No record of the 'I'm going to kill everyone' incident(s)

Was the background check on Skippy just 'Well Dad says he's OK, so we;ll send him a FOID Card" ?

Skip got the card that said he could legally have the gun from the state of Illinois, not from Dad.
 
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2152hq said:
"....In 2019, Robert Crimo Jr. sponsored his son's application for a gun permit because Crimo III was underage at the time. In early 2020, Crimo III obtained a state firearm owner's identification card, despite his previous threats to kill himself and his family...."

OK,,Dad, 'sponsored' Skippy, his son by signing Skippy's application for a Firearms License/Permit.
Skippy was underage at the time.

Dad did not Issue the Firearms License.

The State of Ill issued the FOID license.
Since the Application is just that,,,an application for the issuance of the license,,,and the final decision is with the State of Illinois..
Does not the State of Illinois bear the responsibility for that issuance?

The State I would assume would tell you that they investigate the applicant, before issuance.
Or is there no record(s) available on this 'underage' individual?

No local PD record of the Suicide attempt(s)
No record of the 'I'm going to kill everyone' incident(s)

Was the background check on Skippy just 'Well Dad says he's OK, so we;ll send him a FOID Card" ?

Skip got the card that said he could legally have the gun from the state of Illinois, not from Dad.
Click to expand...

Proximate cause (occasionally called, 'but for...'). Absent FIRST dad's sponsorship, Skippy could not have legally obtained his AR, mags, and ammo in IL. Not all suicide attempts, threats, and certainly not mental illnesses get reported to police, although some do. And only an arrest for threats would be part of Skippy's computerized criminal history (CCH).

But hey, certainly dad has no reason to think a suicidal, mentally ill, threatmaker might do something bad if he had guns.

Give me a break.
 
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There are few parents who will admit their offspring has mental issues. There is an assumed (usually wrongly, IMHO) stigma that it "comes from the blood", and who wants to admit his swimmers are responsible.

Ma-in-law #1 started ranting that we and her doctors were accusing her of being nuts because she needed some drugs to help with her TIA issues. She couldn't separate out the physical side versus true mental illness, and she used to be a nurse! The mental thing gets people way jumpy, and is a fast ticket to the state of denial.
 
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There is more to the story which has been reported locally in both electronic and print media, some of which still have decent investigative reporters. What is missing in this equation is that between Dad's sponsorship and acquisition of the firearms Sonny turned 21 and could have obtained a FOID on his own, without a sponsor, if he had not already had one. Since that is so I think it will be hard to make a but-for argument, which is the only way I see to make a case that Dad facilitated Sonny's conduct. At the same time I have a hard time seeing the logic in saying "The kid's dangerous with knives...let's help him get a gun".
 
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Buford57 said:
There is more to the story which has been reported locally in both electronic and print media, some of which still have decent investigative reporters. What is missing in this equation is that between Dad's sponsorship and acquisition of the firearms Sonny turned 21 and could have obtained a FOID on his own, without a sponsor, if he had not already had one. Since that is so I think it will be hard to make a but-for argument, which is the only way I see to make a case that Dad facilitated Sonny's conduct. At the same time I have a hard time seeing the logic in saying "The kid's dangerous with knives...let's help him get a gun".
Click to expand...

But only the facts matter in law. Dad did sponsor Skippy in 2019, he got his card, so speculating about coulda shoulda woulda at age 21 a couple of years later is of no consequence.
 
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