Parents don’t merely create children. They must also be responsible, guiding hands for their children. Giving a troubled teen a weapon that spins bullets like a shredder through its target, to help their child calm down, is not the act of a responsible adult. I think the parent who did that is an accessory to the crime. The single misdemeanor charge suggested for him wouldn’t carry sufficient weight. –Rafael Sanjuan, New York

When a parent intentionally, recklessly or negligently allows a child access to something dangerous, and harm results from that choice, the parent should be held responsible. If a mother births a child who tests positive for drugs, she is liable. If a father leaves out heroin on the coffee table, and his toddler consumes some, he is liable. A father in my area was recently charged after his 2-year-old son fatally shot himself with a gun the child found in the father’s room. – Mary Holcomb, Chicago

If we hold parents accountable when their negligence leads to their own child’s injury or death, why wouldn’t we when it leads to someone else’s injury or death? This isn’t punishing parents for their children’s crimes; it is holding parents accountable for conduct that enabled the commission of their children’s crimes.Blake Hayes,