Washington State’s Pending Legislation Seeks To Prohibit Barbaric Muslim Practice Of Young Female Genital Mutilation

Bare Naked Islam:

State of Washington 63rd Legislature 2014 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL 2190
AN ACT Relating to female genital mutilation; amending RCW 26.44.020; adding a new section to chapter 9A.36 RCW; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties. More

Read the entire bill here: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2013-14/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/2190.pdf

An estimated 130 million young girls have undergone sexual mutilation, mostly in Muslim countries, but now, apparently in Great Britain, Europe, and the USA, too. 

Wake-up America… Wake-up Democrats… It is your party’s politicians, including those in the White House, who support the Muslim Brotherhood and the spread of Islam in this country and are then feeding you the crazy notion of a war on women by Republicans… You are being used and had!

Video: Female Genital Mutilation must end

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Woman Who Could Not Afford ObamaCare Tries to Kill President

Photo Credit – The Blaze

After the initial report of mayhem in Washington D.C. and the originally reported shooting of a guard in the Capitol, it changed to that a woman, with a baby in her car, tried to ram the barriers in front of the White House in an attempt to kill the president after not being able to afford ObamaCare… an ever disappointing promise for many.

The facts on this event have been a disorganized moving target, but it now appears that the woman did not have a gun, that the car chase by police after the unarmed suspect led to the Capitol where it was reported that a guard or policeman was shot by a stray police bullet.

Capitol has re-opened within about an hour after shots were fired but the actual events are still evolving.

*The latest update is that the suspect tried to get through a check point at the far southern point of what is now considered White House grounds, blocks away from the actual White House.  The President was never in danger.  It seems that the suspect was hit and killed, but that is not verified, and the baby was not hit and is fine.  It also now appears that the formerly reported shooting of the guard or policeman was a false reporting and that the policeman injured himself in the police car crash below… one police car hitting another.

*(4:22p.m.) It has now been confirmed that the suspect, who appears to be an African-American, is dead and although the officer was hurt during the impact of their cars, no officers were killed.  A witness reports that she was shot in the head; not confirmed.  It appears that the suspect backed into a police vehicle at one point, but short of trying to escape she did not appear to be violent or have any weapons. So did the police over-react? Was there excessive force used?

*(4:52P.M.) The questions are now surfacing… Why are there no photos of the baby or of a baby being removed from the car.  If there was a baby, with the back windows of the car blown out, was that baby injured?  Could this situation have been accelerated by bad judgment?  Why is any normally released information not being released, yet nobody bothered to blur out the the victim’s car license plate number on many photos?  Why was it originally reported that this was a reaction to the woman’s disappointed with ObamaCare and now that fact has already been buried?

What this incident does do is add a whole new dynamic to the ObamaCare debate and perhaps a glimpse into the reality for many who will find themselves in the same place as this woman… feeling duped by the President’s promises surrounding ObamaCare. 

At this point there is much speculation, but there seem to be more questions than answers. 

AskMarion~

Blaze Report: Shots Fired Outside U.S. Capitol; One Officer Injured (Live Updates HERE) 

Related: 

• Capitol Hill Shooting
• Video

A woman driving a black Infiniti with a young child inside tried to ram through a White House barricade Thursday, then led police on a chase toward the Capitol, where police shot and killed her, witnesses and officials said.

Tourists watched the shooting unfold on Constitution Avenue outside the Capitol as lawmakers inside debated how to end a government shutdown. Police quickly locked down the entire complex temporarily, and both houses of Congress went into recess.

Read our previous posts and updates below to see how it all unfolded.

UPDATE 7:25 p.m. ET: Via the Hartford Courant:

A Stamford dental hygienist with a history of mental health issues was killed after a chase and shooting near the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, a source with knowledge of the investigation said.

The source said Miriam Carey, 34, was the woman who was driving the black Infiniti coupe with Connecticut license plates that tried to pass a security check point at the White House, led police on a chase through central Washington and died after being shot near the U.S. Capitol.

–

UPDATE 6:06 p.m. ET: Police would not reveal any information on the female suspect, but they did confirm that she has been “pronounced” dead.

There were two officers injured during the pursuit, and both are in good condition, police said.

The child who was traveling in the suspect’s car is reportedly in protective custody.

–

UPDATE 5:35 p.m. ET: The Washington Posts says that the suspect involved in the incident was a woman in her 30s and that a child taken from the car could be as young as one. The Post also cites two sources who say the woman did not have a gun.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) told Fox News the woman was “African-American.”

–

UPDATE 5:15 p.m. ET: Eyewitnesses describe the frantic scene in the aftermath of the incident.

“I didn’t really have time to think; if I had I probably wouldn’t have gone outside,” one witness told TheBlaze’s Oliver Darcy.

“I really didn’t know what to think. I heard the seven or eight shots. There were dozens of officers. So much so that you really couldn’t even see what was happening. There were officers in police vehicles on every side, swarming, and more coming in every second.”

Read more in our separate post.

UPDATE 5:33 p.m. ET: Suspect’s, now said to be, 1-year-old child is said to be in protective custody and doing fine.

UPDATE 5:06 p.m. ET:  An onsite reporter said that all witnesses were removed from the area after her shooting, including one who said the suspect appeared to be just a scared woman…

UPDATE 5:06 p.m. ET:  The report of a baby in the car has now been changed to a 3 to 5 year old; still no photos or reported citings of the child?!?

UPDATE 4:42 p.m. ET:  Sen. Richard Blumenthal (R-Conn.) tells NECN that the black car involved in Thursday’s police chase had Connecticut plates.

NBC Connecticut is also reporting that the “car involved in the incident outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday is owned by a Connecticut resident, NBC News learned.”

WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 03: A police officer checks out a car on grass with his canine near the U.S. Capitol October 3, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The US Capitol and the White House were placed on lockdown after an ‘active shooter’ situation was reported. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

UPDATE 4:26 p.m. ET: Fox News’ Chad Pergram reports that the female suspect involved in the car chase near the U.S. Capitol is deceased.

Tweeter: Chad Pergram ✔@ChadPergram -  Capitol Hill sources confirm suspect in WH/Capitol incident is deceased.  -  1:19 PM - 3 Oct 2013

–

UPDATE 4:25 p.m. ET: New video of a late model black (possibly G-35 Sports Coup) car involved in the incident has emerged

UPDATE 4:05 p.m. ET: Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice Jordan Sekulow witnessed some of the chaos that unfolded on Thursday and recalled the surreal incident in an interview with TheBlaze.

Sekulow says he could see the crime scene outside his office window in Washington, D.C. He also said there were sirens before gun shots rang out.

“Then we hear, ‘boom, boom, boom!’ and someone said, ‘that’s gunfire, everybody needs to get down,’” he recalled. “There was what I can only describe as an army of police responding at what is literally our intersection.”

–

UPDATE 4:00 p.m. ET: New video obtained by NBC News shows people running away after shots were fired outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday.

UPDATE 3:51 p.m. ET: Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer is now telling a local Fox affiliate that the incident split into two locations. In other words, there are two crime scenes that police are investigating.

That seems to be corroborated by TheBlaze’s own Oliver Darcy, who reports Capitol Police have told him they have “multiple crime scenes.”

Gainer said there were shots fired at both locations and the suspect sped away from the first incident and fled to the second crime scene.

Reports indicate that the female suspect rammed a security barricade near the White House before speeding away and being stopped by police at the second crime scene.

UPDATE 3:44 p.m. ET: TheBlaze’s Oliver Darcy reports live from Washington, D.C.:

–

UPDATE 3:30 p.m. ET: Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer told a local Fox affiliate that the incident does not appear to be related to terrorism and is an isolated incident.

He also said it appears that shots were fired by law enforcement. It’s unclear if the suspect involved in the incident ever fired shots or if all shots were fired by police.

The child who was reportedly in the suspect’s car was taken to the hospital but she was not believed to be injured, Gainer said.

During a press conference, the police chief said it appears that no officers were shot in the incident. Injuries sustained by one officer after reportedly being struck in his squad car are not believed to be life threatening.

–

UPDATE 3:24 p.m. ET: TheBlaze’s Oliver Darcy is on the scene at the U.S. Capitol. We will continue bringing you breaking updates.

Tweet:  Oliver Darcy@oliverdarcy: Capitol police tells me they have "multiple crime scenes" they are trying to secure near Capitol.  -  12:22 PM - 3 Oct 2013

–

UPDATE 3:06 p.m. ET: Fox News confirms that a female driver tried to ram the security barrier at the White House with her car. Ed Henry reports Capitol Police then chased the suspect toward the Capitol.

Fox also reports the woman had a child in the car, whose status is unknown.

In addition to ABC News, WJLA is also reporting that a female suspect was shot and killed. There are also conflicting reports saying that the female suspect has been taken into custody.

 

Executive Director of the ACLJ Jordan Sekulow tweeted the following picture that shows a black car surrounded by police:

Tweet: Jordan - Sekulow@JordanSekulow -  This appears to be the vehicle that crashed in police station at 2nd/Constitution #capitolhillshooting  -  11:52 AM - 3 Oct 2013

Police have reportedly lifted the lockdown at the U.S. Capitol.

–

There are reports of shots fired near the U.S. Capitol, according to several news organizations. There are unconfirmed reports of one officer injured and possibly others.

The shots came from outside not inside the U.S. Capitol, Reuters reports. Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) also reported hearing shots fired.

Police say the U.S. Capitol had been put on a security lockdown since reports of possible shots fired outside the building emerged. However, the lockdown was lifted at around 3 p.m. ET.

Several news organizations are reporting that one suspect is in custody.

Another source tells ABC News that a female suspect is reportedly dead on scene at U.S. Capitol.

Credit: Tampa Bay Times reporter Alex Leary (@learyreports)

Fox News is reporting that the shooting may have been the result of a high-speed car chase that began outside the U.S. Capitol.

People standing outside the Supreme Court across the street from Congress were hurried into the court building by authorities.

In a notice distributed by email, the U.S. Capitol Police advised everyone to “close, lock and stay away from external doors and windows.The notice said gunshots have been reported on Capitol Hill. There are unconfirmed reports of an officer injured.

Executive Director of the ACLJ Jordan Sekulow was able to capture a photo of at least one person being carried out on a stretcher following the reports of shots fired.

Source: Twitter, @JordanSekulow

en. Bob Casey, D-Pa., told reporters he was walking from the Capitol to the Senate Russell Office Building across the street when he noticed several police officers driving fast up Constitution Avenue on motorcycles.

“Within seconds of that,” Casey said, “we heard three, four, five pops,” which he assumed were gunshots. He said police ordered Casey and nearby tourists to crouch behind a car for protection.

In about two minutes, he said, the officers moved everyone into the Capitol.

FBI agents rushed to the scene and Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer confirmed: “There are reports of injuries.

This is an evolving story… so check back for updates.

Marion Algier – Cross-Posted at Ask Marion

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This Is How a Secret Gun Provision Made its Way Into Obamacare Legislation

The Blaze: There’s a widely-unknown provision in the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) — legislative wording that is capturing attention in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Pushed by the National Rifle Association (NRA), a newly-noticed regulation that was placed deep within the bill back in 2010, among other things, bans doctors from documenting patients’ answers to questions that focus upon guns.

The Washington Post first reported on Dec. 30 about the presence of this controversial wording. Under a section with the headline “Protection of Second Amendment Gun Rights,” the NRA-advocated wording is nestled deep within the law. The Post called the inclusion, “a largely overlooked but significant challenge to a movement in American medicine to treat firearms as a matter of public health.”

As the outlet also noted, it was in the final stretch of the debate over Obama’s health care legislation that the NRA successfully pushed to insert this language. Below, see the portions of the Affordable Care Act that include mentions of firearms and the parameters through which doctors must operate in questioning patients (read the entire health care bill here):

 On Tuesday, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta spoke on-air with “Situation Room” host Wolf Blitzer. The two discussed how the gun provision made its way into health care legislation, while also explaining portions of the text for viewers.

Gupta noted that the initiative to have the wording included during the contentious health care debate was rooted in the NRA’s stance that patients should not be penalized or discriminated against for owning firearms. As can be seen from the above portion of the legislation, while doctors are not banned from asking about guns, they are forbidden from documenting the information and using it for research purposes.

Watch Gupta explain the additive language HERE:

In addition to gun-owner information and how it must be handled by doctors, the text also notes that the law cannot be used to keep and maintain records of individuals’ firearm possession, nor can it be used to track ammunition. Additionally, the language deals with the price of health care coverage, noting that cost cannot be impacted by the possession or ownership of guns, the Post also reported.

Following the tragedy at Sandy Hook, the presence of this provision has gained some press, with select politicians and medical groups taking a stand against it. Advocates are worried that research and medical care could suffer as a result of the wording; some are even pushing the Obama administration to consider changes to the text in light of recent events and an impending battle over new gun control legislation.

The Post has more about the ongoing battle between the NRA and physicians and advocates who stand opposed to the language inserted into the Affordable Care legislation:

NRA officials say they requested the provision out of concern that insurance companies could use such data to raise premiums on gun owners. The measure’s supporters in the Senate say they did not intend to interfere with the work of doctors or researchers.

But physician groups and researchers see the provision as part of a decades-long strategy by the gun lobby to choke off federal support for studies of firearms violence.

The research restrictions began in the 1990s, when the NRA urged Congress to cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s division that studied gun violence. In 1996, Congress sharply limited the agency’s ability to fund that type of research.

This is extremely important at this time with the shocker information recently released that there is now a 'Vaccine' that prevents gun violence and the implications of the use of that vaccine in today’s control frenzy climate coming from the White House and progressive liberals in general!

 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi take part in a joint Senate and House session to count of the Electoral College votes for the 2012 presidential election at the Capitol Hill in Washington on January 4, 2013. US President Barack Obama was officially declared the winner of 2012 presidential election after the counting session– a quaint formality, perhaps, but constitutionally required. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

Just as interesting as the debate over the provision, itself, is the notion that it was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), an NRA-supporter, who added the wording to the bill back in 2010. While a spokesperson for Reid told the Post that the leader never spoke with the NRA about the wording and that he did not believe that “it changed gun laws in any way,” that hasn’t stopped critics from wondering why Reid so staunchly supported the measure.

The language was purportedly added to stem off criticism from the NRA that could have railroaded, delayed or prevented the controversial health care bill from passing. Also, the wording was placed deep within the bill in an effort to convince people not to embrace so-called conspiracy theories about Obamacare — mainly that the legislation would be used to keep and maintain a massive gun-ownership database. Once the language was added, the NRA reportedly remained neutral regarding passage of the law.

While Reid has been a gun rights advocate for quite some time, the politician may be having a change of heart in the wake of recent shootings and controversy surrounding this language. An adviser who spoke off-the-record, recently told CNN that the senator is “in a different place than he was in 2010″ when it comes to firearms.

Cross-Posted at Ask Marion

Related:

Shocker! 'Vaccine' prevents gun violence

NRA Releases List of Celebrities, Organizations that Support Gun Control

FBI: More People Killed with Hammers, Clubs Each Year than Rifles

Biden: Obama Considering Executive Orders on Guns

All NYC Gun Owners Posted Online

Former FBI Informant Says: Obama Will Destroy America Once He Has All The Guns… as Details of False Flag and Conspiracy in Connecticut Shooting Appear

Pravda tells America: Keep your guns

English Warning To Americans: DONT GIVE UP YOUR GUNS!

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Shocker! 'Vaccine' prevents gun violence

WND: In recent years, some physicians and physician groups have proposed that “gun violence” be considered a disease – that we should analyze these public mass shootings as we would a disease and, using that paradigm, search for a cure.

Of course their cure is always disarmament of all citizens, not just criminals. But the same docs want more “evidence-based medicine,” and the evidence points to a very different approach.

In the late 18th century, a London physician, Edward Jenner, learned from local dairymen that dairy maids who got cowpox never contracted the more fatal smallpox. He speculated that cowpox somehow prevented smallpox and tested this theory by taking germs from the cowpox lesions and inoculating unexposed persons. These people were shown to survive smallpox outbreaks unscathed and thus was born the science of immunology and the process of controlling the deadly disease of smallpox. This is real science – observation, testing and practice – no politics involved.

If we observe gun violence as a “disease,” one thing is strikingly clear – this disease never strikes people known to be or potentially armed! It may be true that the recent Connecticut shooter was mentally ill, but he was not so crazy as to take on a police station. Neither he, nor any of the other similar shooters, decide to shoot up gun stores or NRA conventioneers. They may be crazy, but apparently not that crazy.

No, they invariably pick gun-free zones for their mayhem. And when confronted with an armed counterforce, they either surrender or shoot themselves. They do not wage gun battles against other armed people.

So, using the logic of Edward Jenner, the inoculation to prevent the disease of gun violence is putting guns into the hands of potential victims. So thinking like Edward Jenner, lets see what happens when we do just that – arm citizens by permitting concealed carrying of firearms.

Dr. Jacob Deakins, in an excellent review of the subject, “Guns, Truth, Medicine and the Constitution,” points out that both the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2004 and the Center for Disease Control in 2003 failed to find any written evidence that gun control reduced violent crime, suicides or gun violence.

Dr. Deakins goes on to cite John Lott Jr., who reviewed the FBI’s yearly crime statistics for all 3,054 U.S. counties over 18 years (1977-1994). This constitutes the largest national survey of gun ownership and state police documentation in illegal gun use.

Lott concludes:

• While neither state waiting periods nor the federal Brady Law is associated with a reduction in crime rates, adopting concealed-carry gun laws cut death rates from public multiple shootings by 69 percent.
• Allowing people to carry concealed weapons deters violent crime – without any apparent increase in accidental death. If states without right-to-carry laws had adopted them in 1992, about 1,570 murders, 4,177 rapes and 60,000 aggravated assaults would have been avoided annually.
• Children 14 to 15 years of age are 14.5 times more likely to die from automobile injuries, five times more likely to die from drowning or fire and burns and three times more likely to die from bicycle accidents than they are to die from gun accidents.
• When concealed-carry laws went into effect in a given county, murders fell by 8 percent, rapes by 5 percent and aggravated assaults by 7 percent.
• For each additional year concealed-carry laws are in effect, the murder rate declines by 3 percent, robberies by more than 2 percent and rape by 1 percent.

It is generally conceded that immunization of some percentage of a population confers decreased risk of disease on the entire group, not just those immunized – the so-called “herd immunity.” So too, allowing people voluntarily to carry concealed weapons confers some protection on those not carrying – because criminals and crazies never know if the person they confront will be armed.

Recently in New York State, a newspaper published a who’s who of registered gun owners in two counties, giving out names and addresses. Part of the ensuing hue and cry came, not from those listed, but from people not on the list who had just been “outed” as being unarmed. They felt they had been put at risk by this information. So too every no-gun sticker on every hospital or school door puts occupants of the building at risk.

Edward Jenner wasn’t the first person to invent vaccination – he was the first to fine tune it and sell the idea to the masses. More people have died as the result of smallpox than from all the wars combined, but now no one dies thanks to appropriate medical action.

How many unarmed populations will be genocidally murdered, how many shootings will take place in gun-free zones before we get the point, take appropriate action and allow weapons to be carried by those at risk and/or their defenders?

Related:

Statistics Prove: More Guns, Less Crime

FBI: More People Killed with Hammers, Clubs Each Year than Rifles

Technorati Tags: gun violence,violence,gun violence as a disease,diseases,guns,gun grabbers,gun control,gun-free zones,WND,vaccines,Big Brother,FBI,prevention or control,disarming America,Obamaland

MEDIA & POLITICIANS STIR UP FRENZY BUT WON’T REPORT EDUCATIONAL “CHILD FIND” LAW THAT COULD HAVE PREVENTED NEWTOWN , CT MASSACRE

By: LM & AJ  -  cross-posted at Ask Marion - h/t to the NoisyRoom for photo

In light of the recent massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, we learn today that, “The Newtown school gunman’s mother was so angry at education chiefs for failing her son she thought ‘screw them’ and refused to stop dealing with them any more, a relative has claimed.  Nancy Lanza pleaded for better services for her disturbed son Adam but was apparently rebuffed so many times, she took it upon herself to home school him.”

One can imagine there isn’t a Special Education Director who isn’t wondering if they could do more to identify students with mental health disorders.  In fact, there are some who know they can do more – *and the law requires them to do it.  However, the administrative apparatus of the public school system is managed in a way that restricts access to the supports and services needed by children with mental illness or disabilities.

Too often, pressure from school Superintendents require Special Education Directors to reduce their budgets, thus leaving Directors no choice but to purposely deny eligibility, interventions, appropriate services and/or supports to children who need them.  In essence, school districts claim these children are fine or they’re “cured” because they really don’t need interventions or services despite clear warning signs that something’s very wrong.

Adam Lanza was no exception.  Educational professionals report they saw Adam Lanza’s problems as early as 9^th grade.  At Newtown High School , he was often having episodes and the protocol used by the school was to call his mother, Nancy Lanza, and have her come in to diffuse each crisis.

The head of security for the school district at the time, Richard Novia, told AP reporter Adam Geller, “He would have an episode, and she’d have to return or come to the high school and deal with it”.

While Nancy Lanza suffered in silence and rarely spoke of the seriousness of Adam’s problems, the indicators of her son’s severe mental illness were there.  Nancy Lanza’s friends knew Adam had switched schools more than once and that Nancy tried home schooling him.

John Tambascio said, “I always said that I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes.  But I thought, “Wow.  She holds it well.””  Russell Hanoman said Adam was “clearly a troubled child.”  Ryan Kraft, who babysat Adam when he was younger, said, “His mom Nancy had always instructed me to keep an eye on him at all times, never turn my back or even go to the bathroom or anything like that.  Which I found odd but I really didn’t ask; it wasn’t any of my business.”

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) includes a legal mandate requiring school districts, under the “Child Find” provision, to seek out and find children who exhibit significant problems at school, to include developmental and functional problems; not just academic problems.  Most parents aren’t aware of this and the media and politicians won’t tell you about it, but all school districts know.

Under IDEA, anyone concerned about an individual can refer the student, confidentially, to the school district for assessment.

Usually, it is a teacher who refers a student for assessment. Unfortunately, due to the nationwide “budget constraint” mantra from the educational system, we are told that teachers are discouraged by their districts in the referral of students with suspected disorders and that "it’s a big waste of time as districts take no forward motion" according to one teacher who has asked to remain anonymous.

Did Lanza’s school district follow the Child Find law?  Did they refer him for a psycho-educational assessment and provide the interventions and services needed?  As we now know, they did not.

You may wonder, “Why at school?”  Children with mental illness or disabilities experience the majority of their difficulties within and because of school.  The random, unpredictable and social dynamics and demands of all school campuses generally intensify the manifestations of a child’s disorder.

Their inability to properly navigate the school environment is the first warning sign that, without proper interventions and supports, they will be unable to navigate in the real world when they reach adulthood.

Unfortunately for parents, their distraught and possibly violent child is often denied an assessment by the school district or, if given an assessment, they’re denied Special Education eligibility and/or appropriate supports and services, especially if the child is demonstrating “adequate academic progress”.  Parents are often pleading and begging for help from the school.

This is where school districts misinterpret the law.  Clearly, IDEA legislation requires that students who demonstrate issues of functional, social, and/or emotional development are to be assessed and the needed interventions, supports and services must be provided.

If Adam Lanza’s school district had followed the law, they would have requested Nancy Lanza’s consent to conduct a psycho-educational assessment in all areas of suspected disability, which includes mental health, in order to get to the bottom of his mental illness, thus enabling them to determine the interventions and services he needed (to include institutionalization if necessary).  In addition, he would have been closely monitored via an Individualized Education Plan (IEP).

Adam Lanza’s problems were no secret; his brother told reporters that Adam suffered from a “personality disorder” (the clinical term is usually “sociopath” or “psychopath”).  Adam Lanza’s mental illness was evident and Nancy Lanza’s problems with the school district have been reported.

Ask yourself… could things have been different if the school district had followed the law just a few short years ago?  Would it have revealed the severity of his mental illness? Would interventions have been provided that may have prevented the murder of 27 innocents?  We’ll never know the real answer to that question now.

But we do know his mother, Nancy Lanza, suffered in silence, was murdered by her son, and friends and educators knew something was seriously wrong with Adam Lanza.

Often, when a parent is struggling at home with a child who has a mental illness or disability, they are completely overwhelmed and very few can understand this unless they walk in the parent’s shoes.  More often than not, parents are not aware of the laws and provisions of IDEA and rarely do they have the energy or resources to fight the educational apparatus’ complex, bureaucratic and lengthy legal process.  Not all school districts create barriers such as what is described in this article, but the problem is that the vast majority do.

Like Nancy Lanza, many parents end up pulling their children out of school and implementing a home school program.   Consequently, removed from the social world, the child’s problems may appear to diminish somewhat… but those problems re-emerge when they are adults and attempt to re-enter mainstream society.

Did you know that twelve children commit suicide every day in the US ?  Everyday.  One must ask what educators knew and what they did or didn’t do while those children were in their care.

Adam Lanza became an evil killer and educators saw signs of trouble as early as the 9^th grade.  One must ask what educators knew and what they did or didn’t do while he was in their care.

For parents of children with autism, it’s important to correct the media’s unsubstantiated reference to Asperger’s Syndrome with regard to Adam Lanza.  Although Adam Lanza’s brother said “somewhat autistic”, if reporters had done their due diligence, they would have learned that an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is not a mental illness and it was not in any way related to what Adam Lanza did.

Autism Society: No Link Between Autism and Planned Violence

• No evidence exists to link autism and premeditated violence. Suggesting otherwise is wrong and harmful to the more than 1.5 million individuals living with autism in the United States.¹
• Individuals with autism and those with other disabilities are more likely to be victims of violence than the perpetrators.²
• Many of the individuals with Asperger’s syndrome who have committed crimes had co-existing psychiatric disorders.³
  1. Gunasekaran, S., & Chaplin, E. (2012). Autism spectrum disorders and offending. Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities, 6, 308-313.
  2. Hughes, K., Bellis, M. A., Jones, L., Wood, S., Bates, G., Eckley, L., ... & Officer, A. (2012). Prevalence and risk of violence against adults with disabilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. The Lancet. 379, 1621-1629.
  3. Newman SS, Ghaziuddin M: Violent crime in Asperger syndrome: the role of psychiatric comorbidity. J Autism Dev Disord 39:1949-52, 2008.

The media has yet to discuss the real issue regarding Adam Lanza, the failure of the educational system, and what might have prevented the massacre of 27 innocent people in Newtown , CT.

Did his school district follow the law and provide the appropriate interventions, supports and services that he needed while he was young, which could have prevented him from becoming an evil killer that took so many innocent lives on December 14^th?

President Obama said that he will put funding toward a solution.  Well, here it is Mr. President.  Clear evidence of what can be, and should have been, done.  These laws are already mandated; they’re on the books.  The job of the Executive Branch is to enforce the laws of the land that are enacted by Congress, so that’s what the American people have hired you to do.  Enforce the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

----------------

*Excerpts of IDEA Legislation:

Child Find System - Sec. 303.321 - IDEA requires all states to have a "comprehensive Child Find system" to assure that all children who are in need of early intervention or special education services are located, identified, and referred.

Sec. 300.320 Definition of individualized education program.

(a) General. As used in this part, the term individualized education program or IEP means a written statement for each child with a disability that is developed, reviewed, and revised in a meeting in accordance with Sec. Sec. 300.320 through 300.324, and that must include--

(1) A statement of the child's present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, including--

(i) How the child's disability affects the child's involvement and progress in the general education curriculum (i.e., the same curriculum as for nondisabled children); or

(ii) For preschool children, as appropriate, how the disability affects the child's participation in appropriate activities;

Case law has further clarified the specific parameters of functional, social, and emotional progress.  An example of this is Acalanes vs. Student in California .

About the authors:  We are parents of children with disabilities and have collectively advocated for the needs of children with disabilities for twenty years.  LM is currently a paralegal involved in litigation against the CA Department of Education.  This litigation, which was filed one year ago, alleges the State’s failure to appropriately monitor how individual school districts provide supports and services to children with special needs.  AJ is currently working as a special needs consultant and has served on various autism-related, non-profit boards.  AJ has been very involved in legislative change regarding how children with disabilities are provided services and spearheaded the creation of pilot classrooms for school districts to help them meet the educational needs of children with autism.

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