Nancy Lanza feared son, Adam, was ‘getting worse’; told friend ‘he was burning himself ~ Daily News

but every scrap of information that we can get about perpetrators and events like this can be helpful in the future.

information like this may help in the future.

My heart aches for every family impacted.

if she knew how bad he was getting, why, for the love of pete, did she keep unsecured guns in her home?

agree.

Or maybe she thought he was getting better.

Denial of what a son or daughter is capable of can blind anyone.

I mean, look, there is no way to undo what's been done. But we can analyze and profile till the cows come home. The fact is, there were guns. And he used them.

I do think she was in denial about what he was capable of and how deep his disturbance went.

out of the question?

She should have brought him to a crisis center.

they couldn't have done a thing. unless the laws in that state are different than ny. I admit it was a long time ago, but when I was admitted in the hospital, it was voluntarily and because I admitted to wanting to hurt myself, and my family forced me to stay, I was involuntarily kept there for 7 more days. That was in 1995... if the kid is an adult, i don't know how much the mother could do. but i do agree about leaving the guns where the kid could get them.

umbrella.

I'm not saying that Ms. Lanza had to place her child in a psych ward, but she should have moved her gun collection outside of her home.

But the firepower in that house... for what? Really?

Although she certainly could have stored the guns there.
I guess the only thing we can say with a fair degree of certainty is she had little to no inkling he was capable of an act of violence, let alone one so horrific. We're looking at it in hindsight, she doesn't have that opportunity.

semi-automatic assault weapons. And, by all accounts she knew her kid was suffering, mentally.

here realize how hard it is to get someone mental health help if they don't want it or if they don't think they need it........

It generally takes some sort of criminal act to force someone into treatment .

life, if nothing else.

I wouldn't have guns around any person with mental illness. Even depression, frankly.

Its possible they weren't, its possible they were and the son somehow got the key or combo. That detail hasn't been reported yet.

They clearly were not adequately secured.

Status of gun security hasn't been reported yet

best not to jump to conclusions.

I mean, seriously now.

In which case the mother had the guns adequately secured, and the father was the break-down in security.
Until it is reported, its pure speculation if or how the guns were secured.

I would agree that just having the guns in the house with a mentally ill person was a risk, even if they were secured...one of several errors in judgement she made. She took him out of school because she didn't like their plan for him. She apparently was trying to treat him herself, rather than a professional? A pattern may be emerging of a woman who thinks she's smarter than the professionals. We'll have to see.

eom

since she could have stored the guns elsewhere, if she was reluctant to sell them.
I don't think the woman was an idiot, and I think its safe to assume she would have removed the guns if she knew he was going to harm himself or others. So she probably figured whatever security she had was sufficient, based on how well she thought she knew her son.

Certainly if and how the guns were secured remains an unanswered question, as does the mothers decision to teach and treat her disturbed son herself instead of professionals.

members who've spoken with the media. Sounds like she too, had some mental health issues?

Many parents of severely mentally ill people fear their kids, even though they love them and want to do what's best for them.

I'll never understand why she didn't have a gun safe. Maybe she thought she needed the ability to access guns quickly, I don't know.

The worst was, as far as we know, her failure to seek professional help for her son. She was a woman of means, not someone who could not afford to pay for psychiatric help. The second was to keep deadly weapons around the house. She may have thought she had it under control. No one wantts to see their child as a monster.

For all we know, she may have been a hero herself, shot trying to disarm her son. The combination of deadly weapons and mental illness is always tragic.

to protect yourself against your own child?

I can't even believe I just had to type that question.

We will always have mentally ill people among us. Guns are not helping anyone.

did at the school. And she doesn't sound like a clueless, uninvolved, in denial enabler ... I'm sure there had been mental health professionals and likely medication.

Sometimes the medication is worse than the condition. Especially if there have been "rounds" of trials...they have to take them for a while, even if they aren't helping or making it worse until it settles...then they are taken off usually too suddenly and put on another cocktail mix...kids are on a mental teeter totter...and often the anti-psychotics are so strong that it overrules feelings, no school, that's for sure, or if so, the kids know they are wierd, so the social life goes away...

on all counts. I think mental health professionals need to start recommending NO firearms in households with their patients etc. Perhaps regulations in this direction, would be something that could help?

really need someone to tell them not to have firearms in the house, if someone is mentally disturbed in the household? Seems like common sense to me. You can put them in a safe deposit box.

someone to tell her this, yes. Though I agree it's common sense, she seemed to lack it in this regard.

No comment on the coffin remark as I fail to understand the point.

So, the greater point is that Adam Lanza would have had access to a handgun vs. a semi-automatic. Far less death and carnage in that case.

... but it was ruled unconstitutional.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/health/policy/09guns.html

http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=44993

It was a dumb-ass law anyways because having a gun in the house is ALWAYS "relevant to patient's medical care or safety or safety of others."

I'm glad that the law was ruled unconstitutional.

Thanks for the info.

That detail hasn't emerged yet, so statements one way or the other are pure speculation.

I think she may have figured whatever security she had for the guns was sufficient based on her son's past behavior. Or perhaps she had become worried, and planned to remove the guns that day? Obviously, there's a lot we don't know about mother's reasoning and future plans.

to keep guns in the home with a violent person. even without someone i consider to be violent i woudn't want to because accidents can happen.

yeah, we don't know everything, but from what we do know she doesn't come off so well.

You're jumping to a lot of conclusions before the facts have been made public.

eom

just seems weird.

tutoring etc.

My take is that a person causes physical pain for themself in order to cover up or be able to ignore for a little bit, the emotional pain they are feeling.

So I would not say he was trying to feel something emotionally.

He could not feel physical pain. He also (reportedly) had autism, which might have created issues with appropriate empathy.

My thoughts are - IF he had trouble with empathy, he may have resented being different and not feeling emotionally or physically. So much so, that he decided to take his own life. However, before doing so, he wanted desperately to 'feel'. So, in his twisted mind, he committed the most horrible acts he could intellectualize, hoping they would bring him some emotion/empathy/humanity in his last moments. Killing your mother should bring about intense emotion and remorse. When that did not happen, he moved on to plan B. Something even more horrific than killing his own mother.

Granted, this is wild speculation on my part. I have no idea what his actual "motive" was.

I think you may be on to something.

I'm tired and wasn't sure I sounded coherent.

rag as gospel.

amazing.

"Lanza’s anonymous pal had nothing but fond memories of the die-hard Red Sox fan who had season tickets to Fenway Park."


So why would he lie?



Actually I said nothing about the truth value of the story. My comment is that if a person hurts himself physically he is trying to ignore emotional pain, not to feel it.

pain. Not sure if you saw that above or not?

Just an FYI.

He returned to the Sunday Mirror in 1998, but resigned in 2001 after Judge David Poole ruled that an article he had published regarding accusations of assault against Leeds United F.C. footballers Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate risked prejudicing their trial.[5]

Shortly after, Myler moved to the United States and was appointed executive editor of the New York Post.[5] He returned to London in 2007 to become editor of the News of the World[1] and remained in post until the paper ceased publication on 10 July 2011.[7]

On 22 July 2011, Myler and former News of the World lawyer, Tom Crone, wrote to the Parliamentary Select Committee to clarify evidence given by James Murdoch in respect of the News International phone hacking scandal which had resulted in the closure of the News of the World.[8] They appeared before the Committee to answer further questions on 6 September 2011.[9]

In January 2012, Myler was appointed editor-in-chief of the New York Daily News.[10]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Myler

publications?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daily_News_%28New_York%29

Type Daily newspaper

Format Tabloid
Owner Daily News, L.P.
Publisher Mortimer Zuckerman
Editor Colin Myler

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/15/tabloid-wars-colin-myler-leaves-news-corp-for-ny-daily-news.html

Time will tell if any information about Lanza is true. Respected media reported early on, that his mother was a teacher at the school. That turned out to be false.

such anonymous gossipy stuff?

if we waited for the media to verify every story in circulation.

I didn't care for the tabloid wording of the story, but felt it was interesting if true.

If your child were burning himself, would you just sit on a pile of guns and do nothing?

no.

but she sounds like she was brain washed about the need to protect herself from government. Many republicans have this same belief system.

and I have seen it in young children. It is a unconscious cry for help. An adult friend burned himself with cigarettes before leaping off a balcony. He was out in 3 days. He had had much mental health counseling.

Having been in the education system for a long time, I'm guessing Adam was suspended based on observation and/or inappropriate actions in lieu of medication. That is not "homeschooling"...to those who love to denigrate it...in this case it would be Hell for the Mom or anyone with him all day. Maybe he was caught smoking pot, as well...that is really one positive form of calming the emotions, although it can react with others, as well.

I'm guessing that he had had counseling...talk therapy...and it didn't help. It is very limited in effectiveness with serious mental aberrations. Also, he was likely given psychotropic meds that can really fuck with a young emotionally disturbed mind...causing voices, extreme withdrawal, suicidal tendencies, etc. It pisses them off and they can refuse to take it. Try to make a pissed off, disturbed adult son take a pill he doesn't want...not going to happen.

Mental health definitely needs to be increased, but the time, voluminous funds, still experimental nature of many of the drugs and the cocktails (more than 1, often 3 or 4) especially on young children, make it pretty much a wild-ass guessing game. His school had a psychologist who I'm sure did a referral, but they don't do counseling. The terms autistic and Asperger's came out ... vague and hard to pin down, but is consistent with loner, intelligent, etc.

And while these situations are not usually inclined to pre-meditated violence, what does fit is that he had he been put on some new medication/s because it was clear Mom was at her wit's end. There are studies throughout the internet on the terrible potential side effects of some of these psychotropic meds...especially on youth. Prozac and Zyprexa are among the worst. Suicide, increased depression, hearing voices, as mentioned above. Sky is the limit. They can really do a number and yes, it would be possible for him to be either in overdose or withdrawal or new meds or all three and plan revenge on his earlier elementary school.

Which leaves us with Gun Management (not gun control...worn out kneejerk phrase)...Legal Gun Registration.. A process of Education and privilege and oversight and licensing and rules and registration and mechanical upkeep and inspections and insurance and penalties that are required to have the privilege to drive a car. One poster called it Gun DNA.

When grandma gets too old to drive, they take her license. When a kid does something stupid, they take their license. When a drunk gets stopped in a car, jail. Add in a DUI , do time and pay for a very long time. You have to do certain things to get the privilege reinstated.

Ditto guns. A Department of 21st Century version of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. The private arm... the NRA has stepped way out of its useful bounds and into the proliferation of corporate profits on WMD and profiting over the from the graves of children, shoppers, students, et al., then adds to the fear of those still alive. This, and the media, and blaming the mental health system is all "good news" for them.

Legal gun owners, just like legal drivers, should support this type of program, out of self-preservation. If too many of these horrendous tragedies happen, then yes, the Control Folk with ultimately take over.

around her house. If she knew the kid was this troubled, her guns should have been out of the house or under lock and key so that only she could get to them.

Much like some parents of younger children are comfortable with insect killer, mouse traps, household cleaning products, liquor in the house, as long as they're out of reach or locked away from fingers. After a certain age, we become comfortable and never give it a 2nd thought those things which could still be used by someone in the home to hurt or kill if one were careless or misused by accident or deliberate intent. When they're older, we teach our kids what to do with those products and never give it much thought.

Not to sound trite or overly simplistic but perhaps the mother felt confident that her kid would never do anything harmful or cause harm and she was comfortable knowing that she trained him on those weapons, they practiced together, etc. - nothing to worry about just like pesticides, mouse traps, cleaning products, liquor, gasoline or propane stored in the garage.

Fatal, tragic mistake.