Posted on 11/30/2013 8:37:31 AM PST by neverdem
The report released by Connecticut yesterday on Adam Lanza’s massacre of 20 schoolchildren and six adults in Newtown makes clear how well we protected his civil rights.
The report details his “mental health issues,” which in reality were strong evidence that he had developed a severe mental illness. He had been afflicted with an autism-like syndrome since childhood and had been formally diagnosed with Asperger’s disorder. This diagnosis by itself is not associated with an increased propensity for violent behavior. However, in recent years, Lanza had developed symptoms of a more severe mental illness, which occurs in approximately 5 percent of individuals who have autism-like symptoms or mental retardation in childhood. This mental illness, which has psychotic features and is similar to schizophrenia, is associated with an increased propensity for violent acts if not treated. It includes delusional thinking, including a belief that others are trying to control your mind or hurt you. Adam Lanza’s bizarre behavior, including covering his bedroom windows, is consistent with such beliefs.
Adam Lanza was clearly in need of evaluation and treatment. Forty years ago, he would have been admitted to Fairfield State Hospital, which was located in Newtown, close to his home, and given a trial of antipsychotic medication to improve his symptoms. If he responded and continued to take his medication, he might have led a useful life, maybe as a computer programmer or in a similar job.
But Fairfield State Hospital was closed in 1995 as part of the deinstitutionalization movement and attempts by Connecticut to save state money. The theory was that people like Adam Lanza could be evaluated in the psychiatric unit of general hospitals, except that almost no general hospital in the United States has the specialized personnel needed to evaluate a person like Adam Lanza. Furthermore, it is no longer possible to get someone like Lanza into a psychiatric unit unless he agrees, which he wasn’t about to do. The commitment laws in Connecticut specify that a person can only be committed for a psychiatric evaluation if he is dangerous. Connecticut’s law does not include a “need for treatment” provision, as some states do. Connecticut’s laws do not even include a provision for outpatient commitment, as 45 other states do.
So Connecticut protected the civil rights of Adam Lanza very effectively. The state legislature made it impossible to get treatment for him until he had demonstrated that he was dangerous. But by then, it was too late. And in zealously protecting his civil rights, the Connecticut legislature appears to have neglected the civil rights of 20 first graders and their families and the other six adults who were killed.
Her hands were tied, but let's blame her anyway. It's the only way we can get more gun control out of the crisis.
Every time the lefttards wave the bloody shirt of "gun violence", we need to snatch it away, and rub it in their faces with "de-institutionalization."
“...given a trial of antipsychotic medication to improve his symptoms.
If he responded and continued to take his medication,
he might have led a useful life, maybe as a computer programmer...”
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Oh, so that’s where the programmers come from.
It all makes sense to me now.
Well -- from the ranks of illegal immigrants and visa violators too.
I had a programmer of whom it was said, “His queue is only one deep.” As long as I organized his work into simple individual steps he was able to work quite well. Since I didn’t want to single him out, I sent out the weekly task memos to all of my programmers. This also had a “corralling” effect of the hot-shot cowboys as well, and kept them closer to the wagon train.
I heard his mother bought him an RPG.
But liberals are trying to control my mind, and eradicate me.
She is to blame. She knew he son was nuts and still allowed him averse to all those.guns. He of course killed her first. Showing what a psycho he was. Very very sad.
Still. Adam Lanza with no guns wouldn’t have been able to hurt anyone
All that being said I don’t think anything could have changed the situation
Because crazy kids never break into houses and steal guns.
If nobody was allowed to own guns, we would have no gun crime!
Let’s ignore the human misery created and fostered by an overcrowded and underfunded mental health institution system and just blame it on liberals. Let’s ignore the overwhelming amount of evidence that shows just how sick, just how awful conditions were that lead to their closing.
Nobody wanted to pay for mental health then and most dont want to pay for it now. We can barely keep our prisons open and running. I suggest the Author do some research and get his head out of his arse.
For the record....it’s Fairfield HILLS hospital, which was sold to the town of Newtown and now has baseball fields, the town hall, dog pound, walking trails and many old decaying buildings on it.
He went to a friends house and stole his friends gun. Which is Illegal.
He then transported that stolen gun. Which is Illegal.
He went back home and shot his mother. Which is Illegal.
He then stole his dead mothers guns that were locked up. Which is Illegal.
He then stole her car. Which is Illgeal.
He then drove to the school without drivers license. Which is Illegal.
He when shot out the door that they would not let him in. Which is Illegal.
He then when in the school shot his way in the school. Which is Illegal.
He then killed even more people. Which is Illegal.....He did not EVER use the Bushmaster that day.
EVERYTHING he did that day was illegal. What “new” law would have stopped him that day ?
More kids die from falling into pools than from guns.
More Americans die from illegal aliens driving drunk every month, than die from rifles in a year.
Know what Pol Pot, Fidel Castro, Mao Tse-Tung, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin had in common ?
They all took the guns away from their people. And we all know how that turned out.
I agree with you re: tyrants taking away means of self defense, in order to later seize power.
See your FRmail.
WildHighlander57
That’s the real issue that people should be focused on with these shootings, not gun control.
ALL of these high profile shooters are/were CRAZY. Surely someone noticed they were insane and dangerous before they started shooting but it was impossible to lock them up as they should be.
Good post.
Agree entirely. Didn’t know he stole a friends gun. Thought it was the one his mum bought for him
Anyway. More guns less crime. One teacher with gun there. 20 or so less dead kids and teachers
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