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He had never acted out violently. Had not broken any laws, ever. Doctors and teachers had never deemed him capable of violence. There were absolutely no grounds to incarcerate him, which is what you are suggesting.
He was sick and not able to take care of himself. It doesn't seem that he was a happy person. He certainly was not a productive member of society. Someone had to take care of him and it was his mother who constantly sacrificed, and in abnormal ways--like not being able to allow people to come to the house. This situation was out of control.
A group home of sorts, where there were qualified people, medical and non medical, to help him would have been more humane than the situation he was in. His condition seemed to be deteriorating. If anything had happened to his mother what would have become of him? When someone is that sick, mentally or physically, intervention is needed. If intervention meant someone else living in the home and helping or placing him in a setting with professionals who are trained to help him, that would have been better than what finally happened. Alcoholics and drug addicts have safe places to go and get care. I don't know what kind of (or if any) places exist that could have filled his needs but it sounds like there needs to be. No one is saying to incarcerate him.
He was sick and not able to take care of himself. It doesn't seem that he was a happy person. He certainly was not a productive member of society. Someone had to take care of him and it was his mother who constantly sacrificed, and in abnormal ways--like not being able to allow people to come to the house. This situation was out of control.
A group home of sorts, where there were qualified people, medical and non medical, to help him would have been more humane than the situation he was in. His condition seemed to be deteriorating. If anything had happened to his mother what would have become of him? When someone is that sick, mentally or physically, intervention is needed. If intervention meant someone else living in the home and helping or placing him in a setting with professionals who are trained to help him, that would have been better than what finally happened. Alcoholics and drug addicts have safe places to go and get care. I don't know what kind of (or if any) places exist that could have filled his needs but it sounds like there needs to be. No one is saying to incarcerate him.
I don't disagree he was a very sick puppy.
But before the tragedy of Sandy Hook, there was apparently no indication he was a danger to himself or others. And that is the benchmark, I believe, for a mere 72-hour hold. His doctors and his teachers and other "professionals" in his life testified that he was not violent or dangerous. Liking violent video games, being interested in firearms, having Aspergers or being preoccupied with school shootings are not rounds for sticking someone in a secure long-term care facility. Were that the case, a whole bunch of people in this country would be eligible for lock-down lifetime care. That's not even practical - there is a real shortage of space and resources for severely mentally ill people.
You cannot put a mentally-disturbed person, or an alcoholic, or an addict, into long-term care without their legal consent and without an extremely compelling reason.
This was just a horrible, horrible situation and I don't believe there is an easy answer. It's human nature to attempt to assign blame to make sense of a tragedy like this, but in truth I don't believe one can lay the blame at anyone's feet here.
What it boils down to is...we'll never be able to 100 percent keep everyone safe. But I have serious issue with:
1. The amount of weapons they owned. My house has 2 guns, and many of our friends are hunters. I know NO ONE who has that kind of firepower.
2. The mother, knowing her son was unstable, had guns available to him. I don't care how many doctors said he wasn't a harm to society. A gun is something to take seriously when you own it. They had MANY.
If it wasn't this, it would have been something else that would have set him off. It's heartbreaking that it was this, and so many innocent people (and children!) were killed. But I completely blame his mother. And that may seem insensitive to some, JMO.
I'm not sure any one did anything wrong as many kids get given guns and dont then go out and massacre a bunch of school kids.
His mental problems seemed to be being dealt with through drugs and doctor visits,
i cant see any laws that would have prevented this tragedy as you cant lock people up before they actually commit a crime of this nature.
I'm at a loss to come up with a solution to this type of crime..
It appears to me that there was a complete breakdown in the parenting process for this young man. Dad doesn't seem too involved and Mom unable to deal with the situation. When a young adult puts garbage bags over his windows, refuses to leave his room, communicates only via email while sharing the same house with his mother; and spends all day playing violent video games . . . something is very, very wrong. Especially with a known history of mental illness.
I find it hard to believe that Mom could be in that much denial; yet she surely must have been because she continued to furnish this troubled boy with many GUNS.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zhugeliang1
Why are Lanza's eyes so big and dilated in every photo of him on the news reports?
I don't understand that either. He really does not look normal in any way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kevxu
Since this tragedy occurred I have thought at every glimpse we get of the mother, and all we seem to get are glimpses, that this woman seemed to be facilitating very bizarre behaviour on the part of her son.
Bingo.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FW transplant
I blame both his parents. The mom enabled him and the dad abdicated. Something was seriously wrong with Adam since at least 7th grade. The parents had the money to put him in a nice, in-patient, long-term treatment center, and they should have.
I agree this young man needed some serious intervention that he did not receive.
I believe the mother enjoyed shooting and guns - I recall reports that she had taken him to a shooting range in the past.
Assuming this was her mindset (guns = good/ok/fun/normal), then it appears this interest/belief of hers led her to have a major blind spot when it came to her son and the issue of guns.
If he showed early interest in guns, and was interested in little else (as it appears), then I imagine that this was a source of bonding between them. When he was younger, this may have been the only way she could find a way to get him to interact with her. And it would be normal for a parent to try to seek out some way to engage and connect with their child.
It seems that in their home and life together, guns were simply normal. They were a mutual interest and hobby for the two of them, and it had been that way for many years. Given the belief system of the mother, and the fact that the boy had been essentially raised this way, it would make sense why the guns were not locked up. They were not considered any type of threat by her.
What we don't know is how she really felt about her son near the end. I get the sense she felt like something needed to be done to help him (thus the plan to take him to a school in Washington, buy an RV to get there, etc), but I don't know if we will ever know if she feared him.
On NPR I heard about a residential treatment program for video game addiction that is in Washington State. When I read that she was planning to take him to a school there, I found myself wondering if this is the place she was going to take him.
My personal opinion is that the combination of her personality and his was simply a toxic combination that led to the massacre at Sandy Hook. The trajectory was in place many years ago and nothing occurred to divert him from that path.
He was sick and not able to take care of himself. It doesn't seem that he was a happy person. He certainly was not a productive member of society. Someone had to take care of him and it was his mother who constantly sacrificed, and in abnormal ways--like not being able to allow people to come to the house. This situation was out of control.
A group home of sorts, where there were qualified people, medical and non medical, to help him would have been more humane than the situation he was in. His condition seemed to be deteriorating. If anything had happened to his mother what would have become of him? When someone is that sick, mentally or physically, intervention is needed. If intervention meant someone else living in the home and helping or placing him in a setting with professionals who are trained to help him, that would have been better than what finally happened. Alcoholics and drug addicts have safe places to go and get care. I don't know what kind of (or if any) places exist that could have filled his needs but it sounds like there needs to be. No one is saying to incarcerate him.
There are thousands and thousands of severely mentally ill persons living on the streets all across this country. If no other family took him in and he had no money, he would have joined them. I do agree that our current system needs a drastic overhaul.
Was Adam or Nancy Lanza's bodies ever seen post shootings? Sure, the police and others who were allowed access to an empty building claim to have seen a blood bath but are there any photos to substantiate such?
Not that we have see. Parents had to ID their dead children from photos? Nope, mothers want to see their kids dead or not.
There was no Adam Lanza as no one in the neighborhood even knew who he was. His brother was mentioned on the news before he was so go figure. The picture of "Lanza" depicted a crazed individual and that imagery succeeded as everyone now believes him to be a nut case. The same can be said for Jared Lee Loughner and James Eagan Jones. Timothy McVeigh was portrayed as a nut.
We know nothing of these people though their lives are pieced together by 'experts' who aren't CSI team members from science fiction TV cop shows. They don't have a tenth of the technology depicted in those shows.
Dig deep enough and realize it's about control. We need to be coddled by the government from all evils so they will dream up some to worry your pretty little heads over until they come to 'save' you.
Was Adam or Nancy Lanza's bodies ever seen post shootings? Sure, the police and others who were allowed access to an empty building claim to have seen a blood bath but are there any photos to substantiate such?
Not that we have see. Parents had to ID their dead children from photos? Nope, mothers want to see their kids dead or not.
There was no Adam Lanza as no one in the neighborhood even knew who he was. His brother was mentioned on the news before he was so go figure. The picture of "Lanza" depicted a crazed individual and that imagery succeeded as everyone now believes him to be a nut case. The same can be said for Jared Lee Loughner and James Eagan Jones. Timothy McVeigh was portrayed as a nut.
We know nothing of these people though their lives are pieced together by 'experts' who aren't CSI team members from science fiction TV cop shows. They don't have a tenth of the technology depicted in those shows.
Dig deep enough and realize it's about control. We need to be coddled by the government from all evils so they will dream up some to worry your pretty little heads over until they come to 'save' you.
Are you saying this shooting and others like it were fabricated by "the government"?
This is such a tragic subject matter I only want to make a few comments. When Reagan gutted mental health from the budget it was a dis-service to all. Most family members aren't trained and just don't understand there's something wrong. Had we as a society put more emphasis on identifying mental health issues, and warning families ahead of time we may be able to reduce these instances. Example: Place trained professionals in schools to keep an eye out for typical mental disabilities. When identified we could warn the parents about violent influences such as guns, video games, or any media that may be misconstrued.
Clearly Adam Lanza should not have had guns, or violent games. His mom thought they were therapy, but actually were the opposite. Had we put in place tools to educate her maybe lives could have been saved.
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