“I felt that was a way to relieve the pressure.”

Death penalty. Death penalty. Death penalty.
When I was 17 (hell, when I was 10) I had a gun — a .410 single-shot shotgun. More importantly, I knew where my dad’s guns were, and knew how to operate them. He had (and I now possess) a rifle that would probably put this kid’s gun to shame.
There were plenty of times in high school when I felt “pressure”. I can think of at least two people I would have cheerfully killed, given the chance.
But I didn’t, because I was brought up from an early age with the awareness that murder was wrong, and that one had to control oneself even when one really didn’t want to. You don’t shoot a kid in high school just because he likes to call you names and push you around.
I’m tired of pop-psychological bullshit masquerading as real therapy. Parents have failed. Schools have failed. Religious institutions have failed. The state has failed. The fact of the matter is that we have raised a generation of kids who are so fucked up, we’ll be lucky to survive their adulthoods. I am absolutely terrified to think that today’s poorly-educated, maladjusted children will be running things when I am old.
All sides are equally to blame. Liberals are to blame for destroying the structure of the family and for ideologizing our schools. Conservatives are to blame for dithering around and not decisively reversing liberal fuckups. Libertarians are to blame for withdrawing from the argument and saying government has no place in these spheres. People who do not vote are to blame for letting other people make decisions for them.
Because we have abdicated our responsibilities to the young, we have left ourselves with no choice but to start taking harsh measures with those who so thoroughly break the social compact. It is a damned shame to advocate the state-sanctioned killing of a 17-year-old fuckup, particularly when the state has the blood he shed on its hands, but it’s time for the state to start fixing the problem and making it clear that anti-social behavior is NOT the answer to purely social problems.
You do not go out and randomly murder and destroy just because somebody dissed your sorry high-school ass. Whatever problems you have in high school, they pale compared to the problems you will experience as an adult. Bottom fucking line. If you do, you should expect to be murdered and destroyed yourself.
I suppose in this case we’re lucky he didn’t make it to adulthood undiscovered and then end up going postal in his work environment. But even the one person he killed is one person too many.
If the Supreme Court says you can’t give the death penalty to someone under 18, ask for it anyway, and then fight for it all the way up. There is a type of crime that is so heinous that age should not be a barrier to forfeiting your life in return. This crime abundantly fits that description.
Death penalty. Make it clear that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.