A Seattle, Washington man, Raymond Fryberg, has been found guilty of illegally owning firearms. What makes this story especially relevant, and sad, is that one of the handguns he is charged with having, was used by his son in a high school cafeteria shooting.
The October 24, 2014 shooting, which occurred at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, just north of Seattle, left five students dead and one injured. One of the dead included Raymond’s son Jaylen. By all accounts it seems all of the victims were lured to the cafeteria by Jaylen before being attacked. Jaylen then turned the gun on himself.
Now, almost a year later, his father is facing a lengthy prison sentence for illegally having those guns. It seems Mr. Fryberg was served with a domestic violence protection order back in 2002. That order alone prohibited Fryberg from possessing firearms. While Fryberg claimed he didn’t know about the order, the Associated Press reports:
“The jury rejected Fryberg’s claim that he didn’t know about the protection order and therefore didn’t know he couldn’t have guns. Fryberg didn’t testify and his lawyers didn’t call any witnesses during the three-day trial in U.S. District Court in Seattle”.
They also reported on what seems to be a major problem in our gun control laws by saying:
“Raymond Fryberg’s lawyer, John Henry Brown, had told jurors that Fryberg passed at least a dozen background checks and no law enforcement agency ever said he was prohibited from owning guns”.
Evidently, the order never made it to any state of federal databases. Because of this, Fryberg was able to pass the background checks. Prosecutors argued that Fryberg also lied on the purchasing forms which inquire about any protection orders in the buyer’s name.
While Fryberg’s conviction is not the worst part in this whole situation, it does bring forward the continuing argument between gun control laws and the way these laws are overseen. Under the law, this man should never have had weapons. Just maybe, that would have altered the course of that tragic day in October at the high school.
Fryberg is to be sentenced on Jan.11. He could face up to 10-years in prison.
