Adam Lanza was crazy. Nancy Lanza was crazy.

[Toronto]

146. Good grief...

If we must speculate...If Adam Lanza had autism, which is NOT a mental illness, but a birth defect the same as being born without limbs, he would have the antisocial tendencies that have been reported. Depending on his level of functioning, he could be either cognitvely or emotionally incapable of empathy or both. He would not be insane, but if he was emotionally incapable of empathy, he would be incapable of emotionally identifying with the children he killed. If he had autism, it was not treated properly. Perhaps his mother and father were in denial for too long. IF he was incapable of empathy, he should never have been permitted to be anywhere near guns. He would also be subject to influence from first person shooter games. Lots of ifs. However I believe the school indicated that he suffered from some form of autism. At any rate, if this horrendous outcome was the result of untreated autism, both of his parents and the system are to blame. There have been treatments available for autism for some time. These treatments may be out of reach for people without money, but that was not the case for this family. Instead it appears Adam was home schooled, probably because his mother or both parents would not accept that there was anything wrong with Adam, although he could neither function in the school system or in society. For the same reason, he was denied access to a school specializing in training autistic children to cope in society.