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By Michael Donoghue
A Pownal mother, whose child brought a handgun to the town elementary school last week, has been ordered to appear in Vermont Superior Court in Bennington to face a charge of negligent storage of a firearm.
Crystal Mahar, 34, is due in criminal court on April 7, Bennington County Sheriff James A. Gulley Jr. said Sunday.
The citation follows the seizure of an unloaded 9-mm handgun and 67 rounds of ammunition from a backpack brought to the school on Wednesday, the sheriff said in a phone interview.
The student posted a message on social media about bringing the gun to school and two alert students saw the message and notified their teachers, Gulley said.
The student was removed from class before anybody was injured, he said. The handgun and ammunition were located and taken from his backpack, Gulley said.
Deputy Sheriff Scott Legacy II is continuing the confidential investigation into the school incident, he said. The name of the boy is being withheld because of his age.
Lt. Roscoe Harrington of the sheriff’s department issued the citation on Friday for the gun storage investigation. The case has been referred to Bennington County State’s Attorney Erica Marthage for prosecution in Vermont Family Court.
Pownal Elementary on School House Road has about 200 students in grades K-6.
The Sheriff said it is important for children to speak up if they have information about possible unsafe situations developing.
“Keeping our schools safe is a team effort,” Gulley said.
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Categories: Public Safety
“Keeping our schools safe is a team effort,” Unfortunately, with no mention of a father, raising a child is no longer a team effort. Mom likely kept the firearm at the ready since she lives in Vermont, where there is inadequate prosecution of predatory criminals, and self protection is the only recourse.
You soon will be put in jail if your firearm is not in a locked safe. Will they take the child away from the parent????
So called “safe storage” is already the law in VT, and this is unfortunately an example of why it was enacted…to keep firearms out of the hands of irresponsible people. There are however no laws that require that you lock up your automobile or keep the keys from the hands of those who shouldn’t be driving or remove all fuel from the tank whenever the vehicle is not being used, since a car in the wrong hands is equally capable of being used as a weapon of mass casualties. If you drive drunk with a child in the car, there are often additional charges for “child abuse”. So that question remains…could additional charges in the way of child endangerment also be brought against the adult in the home? Anyhow, even without knowing the actual intentions of the child with the gun, it was very fortunate that someone came forward and brought it to the attention of school officials.
Come on now, the only way to stop a bad student with a gun is a good student with a gun!
If the gun were “at the ready”, say at a bedside table, what are the chances it would have been loaded? This gun was brought unloaded.
Also, 67 rounds of ammunition accompanying an “at the ready” firearm?!
There was no mention of a father so we can’t assume there wasn’t a father figure involved. Was it because the firearm was registered under the Mom’s name that she is facing charges?
Such an awful situation and Praise be to God no one was killed.
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There is no issue with whom the firearm was “registered to” since Vermont has no registration system. It has to be assumed that the mom was charged because she is the sole caregiver of the child and was the owner of said firearm. If there were 2 parents in the household, they likely would have BOTH been charged. The issue here with the violation of Vermont’s “safe storage” law is that whomever was the responsible adult in the home should be assuring that any young person in their charge either cannot access the firearm or knows better than to be bringing it to school, which EVERYONE knows is a no no. Do we know that when the gun was taken by school officials that it was loaded or unloaded? An unloaded gun is not “at the ready”, just as a car that has run out of fuel is not ready to drive. Notwithstanding Vermont’s “safe storage” law, leaving a firearm and it’s compatible ammo accessible to an irresponsible minor makes you culpable for any consequences, whether civilly, criminally or philosophically.
I asked this when the first article was published, I’m asking again: Did the student have in their possession any magazines??? While it is an issue that the child brought a gun and ammo to school, in the absence of magazines the threat is GREATLY reduced! One could pull back the slide, (at this point some slides would lock open), then a single cartridge could put into the breech and then closed and then maybe fired. It depends on the particular weapon. For instance my semi-auto 9mm will NOT automatically lock open if there is no magazine, it must be manually locked open by engaging the slide lock while holding the slide back…something difficult or perhaps impossible for a child to do. Thus manually inserting a single cartridge into the breech is next to impossible for a small child. Secondly, even if a cartridge is in successfully manually loaded into the breech of my 9mm, it WILL NOT fire if there is no magazine inserted and latched! I’m not personally familiar with every different 9mm semi-auto, but I’m just saying mine wouldn’t be a danger without a magazine. Yes, a child bringing a gun to school is a concern, but was this particular event dangerous? Were there any magazines? Can anyone (in the media) find this out???
Michael Donoghue, can you find out the answer to my question?
This is a valid point, since as you note, in most cases a magazine is a necessary ingredient to a functional firearm. It still doesn’t excuse the “mom” for her negligence, but may provide some sense of relief to the staff and students who would not have been in any actual danger.
Poor kid probably can’t even count to 67 but knows there are 67 genders!