Oregon Shooter's Mother Wrote About Guns In Online Forum

[Lakhota]

Investigators say Harper-Mercer's mother has told them the son was struggling with some mental health issues.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The mother of a gunman who killed nine people and himself at an Oregon community college allowed her troubled son to have guns and acknowledged in online posts that he struggled with autism, but she didn't seem to know he was potentially violent.

The online writings by Laurel Harper date from a year ago to nine years ago and offer fresh insight into the gunman, 26-year-old Christopher Harper-Mercer, and his relationship with his mother.

The Associated Press didn't speak with Harper about the online postings; a knock on her door went unanswered Tuesday, and her phone's voicemail box was full. However, the postings included an email address that is linked to Harper.

She and Harper-Mercer shared an apartment outside Roseburg. Investigators have recovered 14 firearms — six found at Umpqua Community College, where the killings occurred, and eight at the apartment. Neighbors of the mother and son in California, where they lived before moving to Oregon in 2013, have said the two went target shooting together.

Investigators say Harper-Mercer's mother has told them the son was struggling with some mental health issues.

In her online postings, Laurel Harper talked about her love of guns and her son's emotional troubles, but there are no hints of worry that he could become violent.

"I keep two full mags in my Glock case. And the ARs & AKs all have loaded mags. No one will be 'dropping' by my house uninvited without acknowledgement," reads a 3-year-old posting.

She was referring to a Glock handgun and to military-style rifles. A Glock and a military-style rifle were among the weapons seized after the Roseburg shooting rampage.

Laurel Harper wrote in another posting: "I love the long guns & I have an AK-47 en route." She complained about gun-control efforts in "lame states."

She posted several times that her son had Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism.

More: Oregon Shooter's Mother Wrote About Guns In Online Forum

Struggling with mental health issues? Asperger's syndrome? Autism? Holy shit, this nut was a ticking time bomb - and his gun nut mother was too dumb to see it - or acknowledge it. The shooter was like a poster boy for universal background checks.

 

[Lakhota]

This woman has a lot to answer for. She knew her son was unhinged but did nothing about it.

 

[TheOldSchool]

Oh let it go man. He was just another lunatic who the public can't forget soon enough.

Move on.

 

[Lakhota]

Oh let it go man. He was just another lunatic who the public can't forget soon enough.

Move on.

Fuck you! With that attitude nothing will change.

 

[TheOldSchool]

Oh let it go man. He was just another lunatic who the public can't forget soon enough.

Move on.

Fuck you! With that attitude nothing will change.

It won't. The crazies have completely flooded this country with guns to the point of no return. You want to save lives? Invent a gun that can set phasers to 'stun.' Maybe stun guns will take the market share.

 

[Lakhota]

Oh let it go man. He was just another lunatic who the public can't forget soon enough.

Move on.

Fuck you! With that attitude nothing will change.

It won't. The crazies have completely flooded this country with guns to the point of no return. You want to save lives? Invent a gun that can set phasers to 'stun.' Maybe stun guns will take the market share.

That sounds like a defeatist attitude to me.

 

[TheOldSchool]

Oh let it go man. He was just another lunatic who the public can't forget soon enough.

Move on.

Fuck you! With that attitude nothing will change.

It won't. The crazies have completely flooded this country with guns to the point of no return. You want to save lives? Invent a gun that can set phasers to 'stun.' Maybe stun guns will take the market share.

That sounds like a defeatist attitude to me.

It should sound like a practical attitude. You underestimate how many jawdroppingly stupid people there are in this country. They cannot be regulated, so a way must be invented to marginalize them.

 

[Roudy]

I think they should outlaw and collect all guns, including from law enforcement. Only a very select few like SWAT teams should be allowed to have them. Hunters can go hunting on specific designated areas. The 2nd amendment needs to be removed or amended. This is fucking ridiculous. Over 300 million guns get bought and sold each year in this country. This is not about protection or the constitution, the founders clearly didn't envision the mess we are in. This is an industry that needs to be shut down.

Of course it will never happen, we all know that. Non of the laws that have passed and enforced would stop most of the shootings. The only way out of this is for everyone, including law enforcement to give up their guns. Otherwise this madness will continue.

 

[RoshawnMarkwees]

She should go to jail. Allowing a psycho to have access to guns is like letting a blind person drive your car.

 

[Claudette]

You can't cure stupid.

 

[Politico]

This woman has a lot to answer for. She knew her son was unhinged but did nothing about it.

Yes she does. Why was a useless 26 year old Millennial still living at home in the basement? You probably can answer that one Fauxhota.

 

[EverCurious]

Autism is a particularly interesting double edged sword. I've worked with Autistics a number of times, most of them were smart, sensitive, and willing workers, but they had trouble containing their emotions properly in a "civilized" world. They cracked under the politicized backstabbing environment of corporate, and they struggled to maintain their sense of dignity in the more casual work environment. Such a "childish" mindset without just the right structure of home, social, and work life seemed almost torturous. They tried so hard though, it was... depressing. At first I'd hoped that "I" could help them, but the problem for them is beyond even my open mindedness to comprehend, understand, and guide.

Unfortunately the worst solution, the cruelest solution, is the one that we "normal" humans revert to without thinking; the shunning and dislike that only drives them further into themselves.

 

[charwin95]

Autism is a particularly interesting double edged sword. I've worked with Autistics a number of times, most of them were smart, sensitive, and willing workers, but they had trouble containing their emotions properly in a "civilized" world. They cracked under the politicized backstabbing environment of corporate, and they struggled to maintain their sense of dignity in the more casual work environment. Such a "childish" mindset without just the right structure of home, social, and work life seemed almost torturous. They tried so hard though, it was... depressing. At first I'd hoped that "I" could help them, but the problem for them is beyond even my open mindedness to comprehend, understand, and guide.

Unfortunately the worst solution, the cruelest solution, is the one that we "normal" humans revert to without thinking; the shunning and dislike that only drives them further into themselves.

In that case we have lots of them here.

 

[charwin95]

Both parents should be blamed for this. Saw the interview of his father claiming that he has no clue that his son has any guns. LOL.. And he was nice enough to say.....we should have a better gun restrictions.

 

[Carla_Danger]

This woman has a lot to answer for. She knew her son was unhinged but did nothing about it.

Yes she does. Why was a useless 26 year old Millennial still living at home in the basement? You probably can answer that one Fauxhota.

He was obviously still living at home due to his mental illness.

 

[EverCurious]

There are a lot of... imbalanced folks yes. It actually seems to me that imbalance is a 'normal' state in some ways though, we mature out of it. That is to say if one looks at the actions of a teen, we can see they are not "adult" in their emotions or actions.

Still, there are folks who are simply wired differently, and for us, it is mentally taxing to maintain a grip on so-called "normalcy." If certain things are not fostered in the formative years, then us "different" thinkers find ourselves terribly alone and unable to relate to the "normal" people. This goes for those who are "dangerous" and those who simply think differently. The problem with the "dangerous" types is they often lack the proper support and treatment. And it's worse for the intelligent autistics, who can pass for "normal" but inside their heads they are not, but they are never given the treatment and support they need to "survive" or "thrive."

I've got a condition that causes me to feel colors and shit, this is not a "dangerous" affliction, but it does help me to understand the alternate... realities of mentally afflicted individuals. I am still, even at over 40, often struck by how differently I think from my friends and family, how strange it is the way they "relate" to the same existence we share. I am not "alone" as much as differently wired because I had the mental capacity to overcome my own difference, but I'm among the top 10% of the country, most are not so lucky. For them I can easily imagine the pain and that feeling of utter "aloneness" that I have felt myself. For most of my young entire teen years I just wanted to be "normal" and I was angry that I wasn't. I fell in with a crowd of "rebels" who adored my "differentness," I happened to find support. For those with other conditions though, they don't find such friends, they don't find a place in society to be themselves, or even perhaps, anyone to control themselves for...

Even "normal" folks fall prey to their own minds, they suicide over losing a girlfriend, or a thousand other reasons, but for those with a mental "affliction" of non-normalcy it is far, far worse.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

The Government needs to confiscate ALL Firearms -- for our own safety, just like Hitler, Mao and Stalin did

 

[Lakhota]

This woman has a lot to answer for. She knew her son was unhinged but did nothing about it.

Yes she does. Why was a useless 26 year old Millennial still living at home in the basement? You probably can answer that one Fauxhota.

He was obviously still living at home due to his mental illness.

Yes, and mommy should suffer the criminal penalty for what her idiot son did.

 

[M14 Shooter]

Struggling with mental health issues? Asperger's syndrome? Autism? Holy shit, this nut was a ticking time bomb - and his gun nut mother was too dumb to see it - or acknowledge it. The shooter was like a poster boy for universal background checks.

It was not illegal for him to own a gun;
Thus, no background check would have prevented him from getting one.

Your mindless partisan bigotry is only exceed by your willful ignorance.

 

[Roudy]

Insane or sane, these shootings are going to continue, and so will the daily killings all over major urban areas across this country. If all the guns are gathered up properly, and the sale of guns for hobby or personal use is banned, you will see the gun violence numbers drop dramatically. Change the constitution and put the gun industry out of business.