[wma152]

Originally Posted by Cambium

Wait... are you saying someone that pulls the trigger on innocent people has no mental issues?

Unless it's self defense or an accident, I think there's a backwards trigger in the mind for pulling a gun on someone...no matter how sane you say or act like you are. That's a decision that should of never been made.

Just like we have drivers tests, maybe we need mental tests too, especially with the crap food and LDA's out there.

There is a difference between mental issues and moral issues.

Yes, most of the killers you see on the news are not classified as having mental issues, just cold hearted killers, yet they still kill.

[Zuzu85]

Heartbreaking as Newtown was, we have to look forward not backward now that the final report was released. I think we need to start by protecting ourselves and our children from the violence in the entertainment media. There are so many gory and scary shows on TV or video games these days that I don't think grown adults should be watching. Adam's parents failed to keep this material away from their son even from an early age...instead over the years, they just encouraged it by transforming violent fiction into violent reality with actual guns and shooting lessons.

We have seen over and over that we cannot rely on the government to improve gun control or improve mental health access. We can only hold ourselves accountable to raising our kids and to our communities. I think it's time we start turning off the tv and the video games in our homes, and start taking a closer and deeper look at who our neighbors and members in our communities really are.

[mlassoff]

Originally Posted by Zuzu85

Heartbreaking as Newtown was, we have to look forward not backward now that the final report was released. I think we need to start by protecting ourselves and our children from the violence in the entertainment media. There are so many gory and scary shows on TV or video games these days that I don't think grown adults should be watching. Adam's parents failed to keep this material away from their son even from an early age...instead over the years, they just encouraged it by transforming violent fiction into violent reality with actual guns and shooting lessons.

We have seen over and over that we cannot rely on the government to improve gun control or improve mental health access. We can only hold ourselves accountable to raising our kids and to our communities. I think it's time we start turning off the tv and the video games in our homes, and start taking a closer and deeper look at who our neighbors and members in our communities really are.

Great post.

I think one place to start is for people to be better educated on the signs and symptoms of mental illness. What we may pass off as "weird" may well be a sign of dangerous behavior or mental illness. Mental illness is generally treatable-- and like all things earlier is better.

[mlassoff]

Originally Posted by wma152

There is a difference between mental issues and moral issues.

Yes, most of the killers you see on the news are not classified as having mental issues, just cold hearted killers, yet they still kill.

From a criminology perspective, perhaps we have to separate "murders" many of which are perpetrated by non-mentally ill people in the context of other illegal activity (drug trade, spousal abuse, etc) and mass killings. It appears to me, at least recently, there is a pretty strong correlation between mental illness and the mass murders we have witnessed in the last 10 years.

[in_newengland]

As for the violent content on tv, when did that level of violence become legal? It seems to me that this level of violence never used to be allowed.

[Chava61]

Newtown shooter called radio show year before attack, newspaper says - CNN.com

[mlassoff]

Originally Posted by Chava61

Newtown shooter called radio show year before attack, newspaper says - CNN.com

Yes, I saw this earlier. Bizarre.

The shootings weren't a random event, but the culmination of years of rumination, mental illness and parental neglect.

(1) The underlying mental illness should have been treated.
(2) The mentally ill individual should not have had access to firearms.

Two pronged problem.

[nonny]

Does anyone know why the mother was so resistant to treatment and guidance? I can't help but wonder whether she sacrificed ethics and socialization for bragging rights about his intelligence -- whether she was that narcissistic. It doesn't look like she was struggling to get him help. It looks as if she thought that she knew better. I wonder if she would have accepted home-based help if it were offered.

[parentologist]

I suspect that she was an isolated, depressed alcoholic. And if you have children, or know people with children, you understand how incredibly defensive people can become when told that there is something wrong with their child. The only social contact that we ever heard that the mother had in recent years was a man from a nearby bar that she frequented. Even when she decided to leave the shooter alone as a brief trial (which apparently tipped him over the edge, since he killed her and left the house to slaughter the children and staff at the nearby school right after she got back), she went somewhere alone.

[nonny]

Wow. You could propose that she was the one that needed psychiatric help. He was just pure evil.