Gun Control & RKBA
Related: About this forumAdam Lanza's mother was a total gun nut, not a Responsible Gun Owner™
By FRANK ROSARIO, PEDRO OLIVEIRA JR. and DAN MacLEOD
Posted: 12:49 AM, December 16, 2012
Adam Lanzas mother taught her son how to become a killing machine who used what he learned from her about firing guns to commit one of the worst massacres in American history at a Connecticut elementary school.
Weapon-loving Nancy Lanza regularly took her awkward loner-son Adam to shooting ranges, where the painfully shy boy who suffered from the autism-related Aspergers syndrome blasted away targets using his moms small arsenal of guns.
Shed take them to the range a lot . . . Nancy was an enthusiast so much so that she wanted to pass it on to her kids, said her former landscaper and occasional drinking buddy Dan Holmes.
Whenever I finished work and went inside to chitchat, she spoke often about her fascination with firearms. Nancy had an extensive gun collection, and she was really quite proud of it.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/mother_made_kid_slay_madman_ojfQG64P9S35iQz9x3BmTJ?utm_campaign=OutbrainA&utm_source=OutbrainArticlepages&obref=obinsource
JanetLovesObama
(548 posts)on her hands than her "mentally retarded" son, Adam. How dare she KNOW her son was "violent and mentally challenged" (her words) and "needed more help" (her words) then provide him with assault weapons of many choices AND make sure he was taught how to use them. That women was Satan disguised.
Kaleva
(36,309 posts)spin
(17,493 posts)is a "gun nut."
I qualify then. By the way being considered a gun nut doesn't bother me in the least.
we can do it
(12,189 posts)Are your guns left out unlocked for anyone to pick up? Are you a paranoid dooms-day prepper?
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)I'm guessing you never heard of Aspergers until this weak and took whatever bullshit the infotainment industry put out at face value instead of using the google for yourself.
KT2000
(20,583 posts)There are news stories that he needed close supervision at school because he did not feel pain. People needed to watch him to see if he had hurt himself because he would not know. Other stories said he burned himself with a lighter in an attempt to feel pain.
It was a condition the kid had in addition to others apparently.
spin
(17,493 posts)In fact my son in law thinks I am an aspie and has thought so for a period of time. He bases his diagnosis on the fact that I am an introvert and successfully worked in a highly technical field for many years before I retired. He also finds my interest in news and current events and posting on DU somewhat obsessive.
So I took the online test for Aspergers and was somewhat disappointed when the results showed that I was most likely neurotypical. Many aspies are proud to have this "disorder" and if I had it I would wear it as a badge of honor.
Admittedly I am not a social animal and dislike social gatherings as I find myself surrounded by people who have a fantastic knowledge of the sex lives of actors and actresses but couldn't find Afghanistan on a world map, define the difference between the national debt and the deficit and have no idea of when the War of 1812 occurred or who was involved.
Possibly the best of the few movies that I have watched in the last several years was the 2006 flick
"Idiocracy." I should note that I do not consider myself to be exceptionally intelligent by any means but am discouraged by the 'dumbing down" of our nation.
My son in law loves watching movies and following the antics of actors but he actually knows a lot about current events and history. He will watch a historical movie and then research what actually happened on the internet. He is however far more extroverted than I and therefore finds me somewhat unusual.
Through the years I have worked with several people who most likely had Aspergers. While brilliant they were socially impaired. Perhaps the field I worked in attracted people who were on the Aspergers scale like a magnet.
spin
(17,493 posts)we can do it
(12,189 posts)spin
(17,493 posts)if she was aware that her kid had some serious mental issues.
Of course we have to be somewhat careful of jumping to any conclusions as we don't know all the details yet.
Dems to Win
(2,161 posts)your child or a neighbor's child. How will you feel if that happens? Will you just shrug, say 'not my problem, I didn't pull the trigger?'
It is not right that your neighbors have to live in fear of you and your lethal playthings.
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)I doubt they live in fear. More likely they would be amused that you assume they do.
Dems to Win
(2,161 posts)Rational people ARE afraid of arsenals of lethal weapons and the people that demand to play with them.
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)he does. I think being afraid of any intimate objects is irrational.
Dems to Win
(2,161 posts)It is irrational not to be afraid of hoards of instant killing machines in our neighborhoods
Pholus
(4,062 posts)In fact, I see major similarities between the two.
- Number owned / what to expect
- 0-3 / Probably normal and well adjusted. They have these things but it really doesn't define them.
- 4-8 / When the topic of their hoarding comes around you can quickly change the topic, but they're otherwise fairly harmless. Usually. An "enthusiast."
- 9-15 / Taking care of so many starts to interfere with their own basic self-care like hygene. You don't have to carry on more than a three minute conversation with them before they have to start talking about their newest precious. They make sure to let new acquaintances within seconds about this passion and as a result they start having fewer new friends. When they start talking you look around for someone to rescue you from having to hear about tedious details that frankly bore the hell out of you unless you personally have 4+ of the same object.
- 16-25 / At this point, most cross to the other side of the room when they see this person coming coming or pull out a phone to avoid engaging them. What choice to you have? You will waste tens of minutes of your life before you fake an urgent appointment to get away. Expect to be treated to a slideshow in which you get a picture of each and every one, detailing the nickname, the circumstances of the acquisition, the quirks, and plans for the next acquisition that come from this one. Any positive feedback in your body language will cause this to continue so be careful!
- 26-99 / At this point the hoarder becomes a recluse because financial commitment means they don't do much else. You avoid going to their domicile because you will see small disturbing sights and smells around because the care of this many hoarded objects has created a burden that can no longer be adequately discharged. Basic sanitation starts to disappear and any conversations you have will reach a new plane as the hoarder discusses plans to make some kind of "Dalmatian plantation" (a place where the hoarded objects can live and romp free of society's restrictions).
- 100+ / This person is becomes socially MIA as they now spend their entire life planning to elevate their hoarded objects to immortality. You are unsurprised when you eventually see this person in a TV news segment with a publicly funded cleanup effort proceeding in the background.
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)it's called a tabloid for a reason.
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)yellow journalism
NOUN: Journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers.
Yellow journalism, or the yellow press, is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers.[1] Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism.[1] By extension, the term yellow journalism is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion.[2]
Campbell (2001) defines yellow press newspapers as having daily multi-column front-page headlines covering a variety of topics, such as sports and scandal, using bold layouts (with large illustrations and perhaps color), heavy reliance on unnamed sources, and unabashed self-promotion. The term was extensively used to describe certain major New York City newspapers about 1900 as they battled for circulation.
Frank Luther Mott (1941) defines yellow journalism in terms of five characteristics[3]:
scare headlines in huge print, often of minor news
lavish use of pictures, or imaginary drawings
use of faked interviews, misleading headlines, pseudoscience, and a parade of false learning from so-called experts
emphasis on full-color Sunday supplements, usually with comic strips
dramatic sympathy with the "underdog" against the system.
more at link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism
Squinch
(50,955 posts)will be used in the next massacre that makes us say, "never again."
Dems to Win
(2,161 posts)Some of them are even on DU
kudzu22
(1,273 posts)If it's true that she knew her son was potentially dangerous -- so much so that she had filed paperwork to have him committed -- then at the very least she should have had the guns locked up in a safe. Maybe she did and Adam had the key/combination. We really don't know what happened.
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)Not for involving a child in shooting...but for continuing to involve that child in shooting. For not taking extreme measures to secure her weapons when it became utterly obvious that her son was having serious mental problems.
Edited to remove a bit about involuntary commitment...I hadn't known that she was in the process.