Adam Lanza with parents
Alan: I am, of course, a distant observer of the Sandy Hook slaughter and am unaware of many details uncovered by the Connecticut probe.
But to say this "monstrous act" is the sole responsibility of Adam Lanza seems wrong, perhaps driven by Christian belief in the primacy of personal responsibility and correlative belief that Acts of God are limited to "natural" disasters.
American Christianity holds that human individuals -- by nature "Masters of Free Will" -- must always "man up."
It may also be that America's Official Story obliges belief in the central credo of Second Amendment Evangelism that "Guns don't kill people. People kill people."
If Adam's parents had not normalized guns - if his mother had not provided weapons and training in their use - this mass murder would not have occurred.
"Gun Cartoons and Gun Violence Bibliography"
"Gun Cartoons and Gun Violence Bibliography"
Adam Lanza: Connecticut Concludes Access To Guns Relevant To Improved Public Health
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A devastating catalogue of mental issues which dogged the life of Adam Lanza, who killed 20 children at Sandy Hook elementary school, nearly two years ago, has been revealed in an official report.
Connecticut’s Office of the Child Advocate said that Lanza’s mother, Nancy, who was also killed in the gun rampage, failed to tackle the problem.
Instead of confronting the problems which first became apparent when her son was a toddler, she chose to “accommodate and appease” her son, read the report.
In addition to slaughtering 20 children, Lanza killed six school staff and his mother in a murderous rampage at the elementary school at Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012 before turning the gun on himself.
The troubled childhood of Lanza, who was 20 when he carried out the killing spree, is laid bare in the 114-page report which also reveals that the attack had been “purposefully thought-out and planned.”
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Lanza was only two years old when his psychological difficulties first became apparent.
He was taken to doctors in New Hampshire because of difficulties he appeared to have communication with others.
By the time he was nine years old the problems were worsening.
“There were early indications of AL’s (Lanza’s) preoccupation with violence, depicted by extremely graphic writings that appeared to have been largely unaddressed by schools and possibly by parents,” the report noted.
Officials standing outside of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown (AP)
Then four years later he was withdrawn from school, with the approval of the community psychiatrist.
By the time Lanza was 14, the Yale Child Study Centre, warned that the strategy of accommodating him – rather than tackling the problem - “would lead to a deteriorating life of dysfunction and isolation.”
However the centre’s warnings and recommendations went largely unheeded, the report adds.
There was some improvement when Lanza returned to school, but this proved short lived, and he was pulled out again.
Both the school and Lanza’s parents thought he was a gifted student, a conclusion which was not borne out by independent psychological tests.
Drugs were prescribed to tackle Lanza’s anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorders.
A firearm seized from the Adam Lanza's house (PA)
Alan: I am a distant observer but the judgment that Lanza alone bears responsibility for this monstrous act"
But Lanza’s refusal to take the medication was supported by his mother.
His condition worsened with Lanza becoming more isolated, stopping all contact with his father in 2010 and refusing to respond to emails he had been sent.
“AL became increasingly preoccupied with mass murder, encouraged by a cyber-community – a micro society of mass murder enthusiasts with whom he was in email communication,” the report continued, referring to him by his initials.
Lanza, who had gone shooting with his parents retained access to firearms and high capacity ammunition magazines despite his mental health deteriorating.
Despite the series of alarm bells which should have been ringing, the report said the mass slaughter was not inevitable.
“There is no way to adequately explain why AL was obsessed with mass shootings and how or why he came to act on this obsession.
“In the end, only he, and he alone, bears responsibility for this monstrous act.”
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