((To those of us who have relatives or friend that are medically mentally retarded, all improper use of the term is offensive. It is not seen as a simple term to describe stupidity, but rather the condition of my uncle who will never have a family, a job, the ability to speak, or fully express himself in this life. I am not angry myself, but use of the term as an insult can really upset people in my situation.
Please do not reply to this section of my post, no further comment is needed.))
Thoroughly moving on, could it be that the kid was bullied and did what he thought was best to "bully" his bulliers? Scare them with the best weapon he could scrounge up? He couldn't have bought it himself, he may have borrowed it from a friend without his parents' knowledge or permission.
To repeat everyone else, almost all problems "solved" by gun control are behavior problems that are little affected by the laws and limitations. "Color-Coding" does more harm than good. This problem isn't even related to toolset. He could have had a real gun, an airsoft gun, a hunk of wood, a knife, a sword, a stick, and it wouldn't have changed much of anything. The only variables in this situation are all human, when he chose to bring a weapon, when he chose to brandish the weapon, when he chose NOT to drop the weapon...