Are Jared Loughner's Parents to Blame for His Actions?

You can't possibly blame the parents for this. It's very difficult to get someone committed to a mental facility unless they are a danger to themselves or others as determined by a psychologist; or if they have broken the law in some way and evidence is found during a search or otherwise. If that person is an adult, they cannot be forced to see a psychologist. Jared's parents may have had their suspicions about their son, but there was only so much they could do, and I doubt they thought he would kill someone. Furthermore, all of us have the ability to "snap" at any time, in a momentary lapse of reason, even if we are not mentally ill.

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Haven't you been watching the news? It's all Sarah Palin's fault! Oh, wait. No it isn't. But it still is so she should shut her big fat mouth.

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At the risk of not sounding harsh, the parents are to blame for this. If Jared was my son, I'd have them lock me up and throw away the key.
His parents ignored the signs and they were closest to him. I'm sure Jared was mentally ill before he was 18 and his parents did nothing to help him. I wish more people would blame the parents, then parents might do something about it!! Keep in mind, every mass shooting in the past 30 years, the shooter lives with his/her parents, whether they are over or under 18 years of age. Really?!?!

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I am certainly not going to blame them.

Having a mental illness is not like having a broken arm. It may be there, but hard to understand. And the resources for mental health issues are, in many case, near impossible to come by. Maybe they did get him help, maybe he refused. Who knows? But certainly they didn't think he was going to kill anyone. .

I don't know what his parents did or did not do, but I certainly am not going to start out blaming them. Without some kind of evidence that they were aware of his actions specifically leading up to the shooting, I'm not even going to be critical of them.

They are clearly devastated and while the question may be fair, it most certainly is harsh!

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It amazes me how schizo our society is! People with and without their parents knowledge/blessings was disgusting films with such graphic violence. The weekend a cannibalistic, murder movie became the top ranking movie our country made me really wonder how we can expect such a mental 'diet' not to have an impact. I scrutinize what my daughter watched and she is still affected by classmates who are allowed to watch such mental trash and unfortunately I sometimes see a drawing of hers with person holding a knife like so many other kids pictures I've seen. What should I do with that? I'll take full responsibility for my part but when will the rest of society take there's? Wake up people and see the truth, a steady diet of violence breeds violence...or will you still stick with the phrase 'kids know the difference between 'pretend' and 'reality'?

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Dont you think it is about time people take responsibility for their own actions and stop blaming everyone else.. This man is not 5 years old. The parents need a few prayers too, just to make it through this..

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Get real! Jared did not just drop down, damaged, out of the sky!
They could have helped him seek counseling earlier on, for example. You can't say they're completely to blame, because families do not live in a vaccum. They are part of a culture which, in our case, happens to be a very violent one.I'm sure the parents know that they 'missed something', in terms of their awareness of what was going on with their son.

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Its not the parents fault. You can never what someone is thinking or what kindd of crazy thoughts are going through thei head unless they exspress it. Some people are just unstable. Did the parents make him that way? No I don't think so.

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I'm sorry they are hurting, but his parents definitely bear a great amount of responsibility. If he had been living on his own, that's a different story. But he LIVED with his parents. His parents obviously did not do whatever was needed to do to get him some help. Recent statements from the mental health community in Arizona noted that he is not now, and has not been in their system. How could his parents NOT know something was wrong? If he was acting like a nutcase outside of the home, rest assured, he was acting the same at home. Everybody that he came in contact with in recent times knew something was amiss. He even saw a psychic when he was 16 and said that voices were commanding him to do things. So, this whole mental breakdown was a LONG time in the making. His parents chose, for whatever reason, not to do anything about it.

I suppose his parents were hoping that with him living at home, maybe they could stave off a total mental break. Or more likely the case, they chose not to see the obvious. Arizona has laws in place that allow someone to be committed fairly easily. His parents chose not to commit him. They chose not to get him to a shrink. They chose to look past his obvious problems.

Frankly, they allowed him to be unleashed on an unsuspecting public. Now 6 people are dead, and Congresswoman Giffords will likely suffer the life-long effects of traumatic brain injury for the rest of her life. They bear a big part of responsibility for his acts.

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When my husband became psychotic, I was the last to know. It's not easy to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental illness, which is why we all need more education about the topic. (I just wrote about this on my Jumbling Towers marriage and mental illness blog, if you want to check it out.)

And even if Loughner's parents did realize that something was wrong, it's very hard to force someone into treatment against his will. My husband didn't think he was sick, but the fact that I begged him to go back to the hospital finally led to his treatment and recovery. However, a parent's pleas would be much more likely to fall on deaf ears than a spouse's. Your wife can divorce you. Your parents? Not so much.

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Splitting a fine, but important, hair here: no, I cannot blame his parents for HIS actions. But I do blame his parents for THEIR INACTION. From what I've read, they never sought any type of mental help treatment or diagnosis for him, even after him getting kicked out of school for, basically, being a crazy creep. The school stated they would not let him re-enroll unless a mental health professional could certify that he was no longer a threat to himself or others. Hello? Anyone home? Big flashing neon sign?

We love our children, and will go to the ends of the earth to protect them. And sometimes, sadly, that means protecting them from themselves. It is denial at best, and delusional at worst, to ignore the obvious.

My heart aches for his parents - they are suffering not only the pain of what their son did, but the sorrow of seeing all of their hopes, dreams, and wishes for their baby boy evaporate. But perhaps the most tragic part of this is that deep down in their hearts, and in the minds of many observers, is the small cold voice of reality that says "parents, you failed your duty to your child by not trying to get him help."

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Yes. I blame the parents for negligence in dealing with their son's mental sickness. There is so much they could have done.

Besides that, they may even have contributed to his worldview. Are they liberal Democrats? The whole anarchistic 60's attitude that has taken over he Democratic Party is consistent with the kind of things this nutcase was saying.

Either way, negligence or liberal brainwashing have made these people culpable.

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