He's being charged with communicating a threat, which he did - they aren't even denying that. Even though he probably did not realize that his 'joke' constituted a threat to the welfare of others, as the courts are fond of saying: ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Should he have his life irreparably changed due to his poor judgement? No. However, the courts obviously need to send a message that any sort of communicated threat, even in jest, is grounds for arrest. Saying "just kidding" afterward does not negate the wrong doing.

The article says this took place in February. I searched online but could not find a more exact date, but bear in mind that the Sandy Hook shooting had occurred on Dec 14th, approximately two months before. Hardly the emotional nor political climate to be making 'jokes' about killing innocent children.

Yeah, just like Zimmerman was not in any danger . . . yet.

:thumbsup Logic on GFY, it does exist.

There should be some kind of punishment as everyone knows talking about killing kids isn't the right thing to do nowadays.

shit..
it was a joke, he even said j/k etc..

don't mothers always joke about this?

is there a big brother hotline up yet?

At 18 years old he should have known better. But i guess we all make mistakes.

It's still crazy though to think of the people we have here preaching hate in the streets (against UK and USA), yet they get a police escort. Why ? In the event of people attacking the hate preachers.

You couldn't make it up...

I had to edit my post becasue i don't want to be arrested.

You kill stupidity by cutting it out like cancer, you sir, are cancer.

This is so fucked up, posters here on GFY will start to disappear

After umpteen school shootings in the USA, and Canada too for that matter, over the past 20-odd years or so, I guess the "lol, Just Kidding" get-out-of-jail-free card doesn't carry as much weight as it used to.

I'll say this though, everyone wants to bitch and moan about rights and stick up for this guy, but how much would one's perspective change if you had a kid of your own who went to that nearby school?

put another way, if someone had heard a similar "joke" back in the late 90's and reported it as this woman had, could Columbine have been prevented? Guess we'll never know.

wow this stuff is nuts!

Nuts indeed. I think my whole point would be that authorities tend to take any mention of shooting up a school, joking or not, pretty seriously these days. The advice here would be don't fuck around yapping about bombs while at the airport, and don't publicly joke about what this yahoo joked about, because they will come get you, and rightly so.

Free speech is nice and all, but it's never been unlimited. There has for a long time been for example 'don't yell "fire" in a crowded theatre' laws in place, and this here in a way falls right in line with that. Don't agree? Well, tough. You'd have a point if school shootings were purely a thing of fiction, found only in horror stories and comics and such. Then we're all free to "joke" all we want. But sadly they've become all too real, and people have become a tad sensitive about it. Gee I wonder why?

I used to play (xbox live) with my x fiance I've had 3 year olds cuss me out , people saying really rude things etc.. etc.. seems to me that they are just making an example of this boy, seems like someone really over-reacted in this case imho

Shut the fuck up moron.

http://i.imgur.com/gunErJh.png

soon forbidden...

Every joke is a joke. He said that he is just kidding. Still didn't get it?

I won't be surprised :2 cents:

the USA is becoming a scary scary country...when 3rd world is scared of the USA :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

shit I hope we never have that sort of "Freedom"

Just saw it on news. They want to offer him 8 years in prison deal.

poor kid

Great thread title USA hater...
Why you hating so much?

Yikes makes me wonder how then they would react where one open source counterstrike clone have teams named hezbolah and al'qaida.

Its thoughts like this is the reason we loose our rights.

Have the same question indeed :2 cents:

No comment.

It's thought crime, seeing more and more of this in the UK. People make stupid comments on Twitter, Facebook, any public platform and they end of with a prison sentence.

Here is a good article about it

done. unfuckingbelievable this kid is in jail :Oh crap

holy fucking shit, you *have* to be trolling. They looked into it - no genuine threat - so what is he exactly in jail for now? A bad taste joke - all jokes are in bad taste to someone :2 cents:

You agree with him being in prison? I'm fucking stunned... 18 years old may be an 'adult' in physical terms, but if you think you knew at 18 what you know now, acted at 18 how you act now, or do anything now that has the same thought processes and life experiences as you had at 18, you're the one who should be locked up for being the world's biggest asshole :2 cents:

he's a biker :upsidedow:upsidedow:thumbsup:1orglaugh

christ, wtf is wrong with people lol. It was a joke, intended as a joke, with lol and jk typed immediately after. Of course it negates the so-called 'wrongdoing'. Have people really lost the ability to differentiate between jokes, threats, and genuine threats?

Holy mother of fuck, this thread has absolutely blown me away :Oh crap

Seems so.