Posted on 10/07/2015 10:07:57 AM PDT by Presbyterian Reporter
As details emerge about Laurel Harper, whose 26-year-old son, Christopher Harper-Mercer, opened fire on his creative writing class at Umpqua Community College, so too has a common, unsurprising, undercurrent of blame.
Why didn't Laurel Harper do more to curb her son's violent tendencies? Shouldn't she have seen this coming?
After all, according to online writings apparently made by Harper and first described in The New York Times, not only did she neglect to discourage her son's growing interest in guns, but she also seemed to encourage it. Over the years, according to the posts linked to Harper, she expressed pride in her son's expertise with guns, bragging in an online journal about his prowess.
Writings from "Tweety Bird" (the Yahoo account name linked to Harper) appear to indicate that she did this even as she told others she worried about her son's violent tendencies. Tweety offers that her son was a "headbanger," and was a child who had been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome -- which she also had, according to a Tweety post. (Studies have shown there is no direct link between Asperger's and violence.)
And yet, according to her neighbors, Harper brought her son to shooting ranges. Police would eventually recover 14 firearms from the two -- six from the shooting, and the rest from the apartment they shared.
Indeed, it's hard not to point the finger at Harper, a mother who most assuredly knew her son was not entirely stable.
Children develop interests and often look to those adults who can help nurture them. There's a good chance that, had his mother not been interested or available, Harper-Mercer might have sought out another person to talk with about guns and the horrendous result might have been the same.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Smacks of typical rampant LIBERALISM. Nobody is responsible for their OWN ACTIONS. The shooter was an ADULT. Leave it to CNN to spray liberalism all over any situation that the radical left will try and take advantage of.
Yes the shooter was an adult. He was also an obvious wacko. It is not liberalism to think that someone maybe shouldn’t arm an obvious violent wacko. There’s responsibility there too.
No.
She didn’t commit the crime, she isn’t responsible for the choices her adult son made.
God isn’t going to send her to Hell for choices he made, and neither should we.
She isn’t responsible for his crimes.
He is.
It seemsto me that there’s only one person responsible for this crime and he’s already dead.
The Oregon shooter’s mother was probably overwhelmed long ago, from the demands made upon her trying to keep some kind of rein on a very troubled youth.
Was the son mentally troubled? The signs would have been obvious early on, but he certainly did not have a very high degree of social adjustment. Apparently of an above-average degree of intelligence, but ZERO impulse control, often giving into frustration and with a very low threshold.
Until you have lived with this 24/7, you cannot imagine the stress it creates. Even with guidance, it is a rough old cob to have to deal with, and if you don’t know what steps to take or how to damp down the mood swings, things can get outta control pretty quickly.
"Need" is not a legitimate part of a discussion about a God-given right.
Lanza did his mother a favor.If he let her live she would be covered in 3rd degree burns from being raked over the coals.
Maybe he wasn’t that looney after all.
His DahDah is also to blame, Big Time.
Am I the only one bothered by this? What business did the police have "recovering" any firearms other than the six at the scene? His mother may have been an ass, but it doesn't appear that she broke any laws, but yet the police are depriving her of her property and her ability to defend herself. This appears to violate the fourth amendment - something that government does all the time these days.
“Now that it has become almost 100% obvious that the shooter’s black mother provider 100% of the guns used by her son, CNN begins publishing excuses for the mother’s action.”
Once you go white, you’ll never be right.
Yep.
I have tremendous empathy for the parent (or other relative) of a mentally disturbed individual. Been there. Current law makes it darn near impossible to get treatment without the consent of the patient.
The question is whether she knew he was mentally unstable. If she did, she should absolutely have removed firearms (or any other weapon) from his reach.
That’s what our family did. Just common sense.
Another article from the mainstream with no photos of mom.
Do I need to wonder why?
In the sense that he was absent and neglected the relationship, yes. But no hands-on culpability, from what I’ve read. I thought the perp barely knew his male parent (the one who has been so vocally pro gun control).
Aside from the shooter, I hold responsible those who oppose any restrictions on carrying a handgun for personal, family OR community defense.
That’s it!
Keep your eyes out for the media attempting to link Trump to the shooter. Note that Trump’s picture is next to this article with a “related story” tag. Last night I saw a similar Daily Mail article that stated she read her son Art of the Deal - it was even in the freakin’ headline!
‘He’s no babbling idiot nor is his life worthless’: Mother of Oregon college shooter defended him to fellow gun enthusiasts and told how she read to him from Donald Trump’s Art of The Deal
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3262842/Laurel-Harper-mother-Chris-Harper-Mercer-talked-fondness-firearms-son-online-postings.html
Look up Andrew Ellmaker. He lived with his mother, was unstable, had knives and chain saws in his room and murdered his social worker.
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