Yes, he was. Everything we know about Loughner so far indicates he likely is schizophrenic. It is an incurable disease that afflicts young people, and begins to manifest symptoms in the late teens and early 20's. In the early stages, the parents might easily have thought they were dealing with typical teenage rebellion. By the time they realized his problems went deeper, almost certainly after he turned 18, there was nothing they could legally do. Our mental health system in this country was gutted long ago (by Democrats), and we have no way to commit the mentally ill. We can't force them to get treatment or to take meds. It's why so many wander our streets as homeless people.
Unless it comes out that the parents were abusive or neglectful, it's as much of a mistake to blame the parents for something like this as it is to blame conservatives.
I agree. Parents don't "create" schizophrenics, and the contemporary mental health system and laws relating to mental illness make it almost impossible for them to get help for their children, particularly once the children are of legal age.
I do think the sheriff should have been notified by the community college when they suspended Loughner and required him to seek treatment because of his threatening behavior. Or possibly the sheriff was notified and didn't do anything, although by this time it was obvious even to outsiders that there was something seriously wrong with Loughner.
The sheriff is an older man who is clearly a flaming liberal and hence would be weak on the issue of dealing with mental illness, since it was the liberal loonies who decided that the mentally ill were just expressing their dissatisfaction with capitalism...I'm not kidding, that's what Lang taught. He was all the rage back in the 60s and 70s.
True, if he truly is schizophrenic, which remains to be determined. That said, I think it is quite likely.
I didn't know it manifests later rather than sooner. Thanks for the input.