Is Nancy Lanza a victim of Sandy Hook?

[MillCreek]

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/article/26-victims-or-27-Newtown-panel-considers-role-of-6051269.php

I say yes: she was killed by her own son as part of the crime and I recall that she did try to get him psychiatric treatment.

[griz]

I don't see how you could not call her a victim, but this apparently is a push to remove her name because she allowed him to have a gun.  Sad all around.

Sort of in a lesson for us all, when a madman went on a shooting spree in an Amish schoolhouse, the Amish community not only forgave the shooter, they set up a fund for the family of the non-amish shooter.

There are no winners in these stories, but Nancy Lanza did the best she could do.  She deserves the simple acknowledgement that she is a victim.

[Perd Hapley]

I don't see how you could not call her a victim, but this apparently is a push to remove her name because she allowed him to have a gun. 

I thought the gun was stolen from her safe.

[AJ Dual]

I thought the gun was stolen from her safe.

They were in the safe, but she bought him guns and took him shooting etc. So "her fault" in the mind of the anti's.

[Devonai]

To look at it another way, what if Nancy had survived?  What criminal charges, if any, should she have faced?  How would she fare in the multiple, inevitable civil suits, given the lower standard of proof?

I don't know, I'm just throwing those questions out.

[Hawkmoon]

To look at it another way, what if Nancy had survived?  What criminal charges, if any, should she have faced?  How would she fare in the multiple, inevitable civil suits, given the lower standard of proof?

I don't know, I'm just throwing those questions out.

A number of people in Newtown are on a witch hunt. They are incapable of recognizing or understanding that the nanny state simply cannot prevent every potential "bad thing" in life. Because the shooting "should not" have happened, they are casting about for anywhere they can place blame. Mrs. Lanza isn't around to tell her story or to defend herself, so she's low-hanging fruit. "If only" she hadn't done this or had done that, the shooting wouldn't have occurred. All of which ignores the fact that trained mental health "professionals" who knew and dealt with Adam Lanza didn't pick up the fact that he was a danger to anyone.

For goodness' sake, her own son murdered her to take the guns. How can she NOT be a victim?

[brimic]

A number of people in Newtown are on a witch hunt. They are incapable of recognizing or understanding that the nanny state simply cannot prevent every potential "bad thing" in life. Because the shooting "should not" have happened, they are casting about for anywhere they can place blame. Mrs. Lanza isn't around to tell her story or to defend herself, so she's low-hanging fruit. "If only" she hadn't done this or had done that, the shooting wouldn't have occurred. All of which ignores the fact that trained mental health "professionals" who knew and dealt with Adam Lanza didn't pick up the fact that he was a danger to anyone.

For goodness' sake, her own son murdered her to take the guns. How can she NOT be a victim?

If only there were a law to ban guns from school properties.....

[Perd Hapley]

For goodness' sake, her own son murdered her to take the guns. How can she NOT be a victim?

She should have seen this coming, and aborted the kid. That's right folks - abortion: if it saves just one child...

[Hawkmoon]

She should have seen this coming, and aborted the kid. That's right folks - abortion: if it saves just one child...

What you seem to be leading up to, then, is pre-natal psychological testing.

[bedlamite]

What you seem to be leading up to, then, is pre-natal psychological testing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwbKYcBdVyk

[never_retreat]

No its half her fault.
She left guns accessible to her mental little angle.

[Mannlicher]

I say no.  Nancy Lanza was the CAUSE of the Sandy Hook shooting.

[HForrest]

I'm pretty surprised to see folks here, of all places, suggesting that Nancy Lanza was somehow to blame for the unthinkable terrorist actions of her son. Granted, I haven't paid much attention to any investigations into the event or the reporting on the aftermath. So maybe there is more to the story I don't know.

But when someone is murdered in cold blood by their own son-- someone who in no way participated in, planned, or knew of any plans to commit violence against anyone-- I tend to think of them as being a legitimate victim.

So tell me, at what point is a responsible parent supposed to cut off all access to guns for their child? Where should Nancy Lanza have drawn the line? Autism? Mild Aspergers? Depression? Teenage angst? Being weird?

What type and severity of mental illness constitutes sufficient reason to deem your child incapable of ever being allowed near firearms (or knives, or cars, or gasoline for that matter)? Were there specific indicators (other than "obsession with violent videogames" or other such BS) that Adam was capable of or intending to use violence against others? As I said, I haven't followed very closely, but not that I know of. 

[griz]

I say no.  Nancy Lanza was the CAUSE of the Sandy Hook shooting.

You either have much more info than I do or we have vastly different ideas of what the word cause means.  Or maybe that's sarcasm?  I can't tell.

[never_retreat]

So tell me, at what point is a responsible parent supposed to cut off all access to guns for their child? Where should Nancy Lanza have drawn the line? Autism? Mild Aspergers? Depression? Teenage angst? Being weird?

All of those except maybe the "weird" one.
Have you ever seen a kid with autism or assburgers? Someone I know from the range has a son with one or the other. The kids maybe 10 and his entire bedroom is padded and the curtains on the window are some sort of industrial canvas mounted to a barn door track because he might just decide to rip them down.
He has let his son shoot a 22 rifle at the range. On a rest and strapped to the bench with tie downs. 

[Mannlicher]

You either have much more info than I do or we have vastly different ideas of what the word cause means.  Or maybe that's sarcasm?  I can't tell.

I 'm sure we have access to the same information regarding this issue.  That we see things differently just shows divergent world views.  In my ever so humble opinion, his mother facilitated his behavior.  She blocked his access to competent mental health care.  That her actions came back and bit her in the ass, is not surprising. 

[tokugawa]

 When we get some intelligent sociopath with a bio-engineering capacity we are truly screwed.

 To this point they are still using 19th century leverage.

[brimic]

I don't see how you could not call her a victim, but this apparently is a push to remove her name because she allowed him to have a gun.  Sad all around.
.

If she had been the only victim and the shooting ended there, I can guarantee that the mASS media would have paraded her around as a 'victim' of 'gun violence,' but since dead school kids are much sweeter, juicier carrion for the media vultures, I can see how the mom could be thrown aside as 'tainted meat.'

[griz]

I 'm sure we have access to the same information regarding this issue.  That we see things differently just shows divergent world views.  In my ever so humble opinion, his mother facilitated his behavior.  She blocked his access to competent mental health care.  That her actions came back and bit her in the ass, is not surprising. 

My less than extensive reading about the event shows her genuinely concerned for her son and acting accordingly.  I never heard of her blocking access to mental health care, indeed she seemed to explore every option available.  But he just got worse and wouldn't take his meds.  Yes, she facilitated his behavior in that she didn't have him locked up and she did have guns in the house, but there are certainly divergent views of how to deal with somebody diagnosed with whatever form of autism he had.  We do seem to disagree on her being the "cause", but thanks for responding.

[birdman]

All of those except maybe the "weird" one.
Have you ever seen a kid with autism or assburgers? Someone I know from the range has a son with one or the other. The kids maybe 10 and his entire bedroom is padded and the curtains on the window are some sort of industrial canvas mounted to a barn door track because he might just decide to rip them down.
He has let his son shoot a 22 rifle at the range. On a rest and strapped to the bench with tie downs. 

Really?  um...I think you need to REALLY be careful what you are throwing out of your face-hole.