One thing I would like to know, is why Adam Lanza didn't just buy his own guns. He was 20, was the age 21 in Connecticut?
And this is going to sound like a troll, but it's an honest question for the gun guys.
Why shouldn't Adam Lanza have been allowed to buy and collect his own guns before he shot up the elementary school? Is there any reason ahead of time? I don't expect an answer, but I wonder.
Same goes for Cho who killed 30-something people at Virginia Tech.
??
If he'd had a responsible caregiver, his condition would have been properly diagnosed and he would probably have been prevented from purchasing firearms. At the very least, a protective order could have been issued if he had been under psychiatric care and the doctor had documented his mental deterioration.
But his mother was more focused on appeasement of Adam than on treatment, so I don't know if any of his diagnoses or medications would have precluded him from buying a firearm. His mom wasn't making him take his meds, and he hadn't been under psychiatric care for a couple years (IIRC) at the time of the murders.
Cho had been assessed a couple years prior to the shooting for suicidal thoughts, and IIRC was held for evaluation once. But there were only a couple interactions with counselors, and they basically just waved it off as "college kid under pressure" because he stated he had no intention of harming himself or anyone else.
In short, these are incredibly rare occurrences because there are so many safeguards in place.
But people make mistakes and sometimes the outcome of that mistake is tragic.
The thing that both of these shootings have in common is that killers (and possibly those around them) didn't avail themselves of the help they needed because of the stigmas associated with mental health challenges.