Yesterday in old Fall River
Mr. Andrew Borden died
And he got his daughter, Lizzie
On a charge of homicide

–Chad Mitchell Trio, “Lizzie Borden” (1962)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuDBO1rIrb4

I’m convinced genetics counts for quite a lot, but not everything. Dr. Fallon believes that the love and attention he received from his parents made a big difference between him and, say, his relative, Lizzie Borden. (Who remembers her these days?)

I don’t believe I was in danger of going that way myself, but I would be a different and worse person today without the love and kindness I experienced from various people along the way.

It’s something to consider — there are always people, particularly young ones, watching for signs of love, kindness and sanity because they aren’t sure how to make those happen for themselves, but they would very much like to learn.

You could help make that difference without even knowing it.

“I am a gun guy and I have taught my kids and grandkids how to safely use guns under adult supervision, when one of my grandsons was 20 going to college and wanted to borrow one of my pistols my answer to his request was “Hell no, wait a year until you are 21 and buy your own pistol because there is no way I would ever let you use one of mine unless we are at the gun range.” To me the law is that plain and simple.”

Bingo!

Firearms are not toys. Grown up and responsible men know that and convey the seriousness of that to their offspring.

What some kid does on his 18th (or as you say 21st) birthday – like picking up a black powder pistol and blasting away at bottles and cans on a woodpile in the north country, is legally his responsibility.

You tell a minor ward who cannot according to the law be presumed legally responsible, that a gun is his and make it available to him, then you are responsible.

It wasn’t entirely a shock to Fallon, as he’d always been aware that he was someone especially motivated by power and manipulating others, he says. Additionally, his family line included seven alleged murderers, including Lizzie Borden, infamously accused of killing her father and stepmother in 1892.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-neuroscientist-who-discovered-he-was-a-psychopath-180947814/

One of my teachers noticed and asked some gentle questions. By then I knew better than to talk about my home life to teachers.

I was harmless. I wouldn’t have done anything, but I was deeply angry for years of my young life.

I don’t know what anyone could have done or should have done. Thank God for good friends and, in a few cases, their parents.

That started to heal when I got away from home, went to college and became a hippie.

As weird as it might sound here, becoming a hippie was a born-again experience for me. It helped me to let go, trust and enjoy life and people. Which is why I still speak of that time and that movement with such fondness.

–Melanie – Carolina In My Mind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brSTmDjg8JQ

What the parents did is not against the law. So although to you the law is “plain and simple,” what you are suggesting charging them with is not the law. It is an emotional reaction, because the crime is bad and you think they were irresponsible.

So far there has been zero evidence of any emotional problem or aggression from this kid prior to shortly before the shootings. So although many people have trouble believing that, it is apparently the case. As I’ve said before, psychopaths often are very good at hiding their violent impulses until they commit a crime. In addition, sometimes teenagers and people in their 20s have sudden psychotic breaks.

As it does not occur to 98% of the young men in this country. At any time. Ever.