Lanza was fond of military-themed video games and aspired to don the uniform of a U.S. Marine, following the example of a beloved uncle -- an ambition barred to him by his by then-significant mental and behavioral problems. Mrs. Lanza apparently did allow her son access to firearms, perhaps in an effort to provide the troubled loner with some form of individual activity in which he could excel and thus build some sense of self-worth. In a boy less disturbed, her efforts might have done some good, and the Marines have helped more than a few troubled young men to turn their lives around. But Adam Lanza was already too far gone. His ambition to be a Marine thwarted, "the family friend ... believes Adam snapped after being told he would never get a chance to put on a uniform."
Media reports, including the New York Daily News piece cited, have made much of Lanza's mother's allowing him access to firearms, and of the few bricks of ammo, the two rifles, and a couple of edged weapons in the Lanza house: "His gun-loving mother quietly amassed a near-apocalyptic arsenal of lethal weapons -- and frequently took her son to local gun ranges." But the instruments of Lanza's rage were not its source.
By the time Adam Lanza was ten years old, Connecticut schools were required by law to have an anti-bullying policy in place. This requirement was strengthened in 2008 and again in 2011. None of these laws helped protect Adam Lanza, nor did they keep him from growing up into an angry young man known to us only for a final horrific act at the scene of his own torment. Teacher trainers, consultants, anti-bullying policy coordinators, and such benefited from the legislation, but Lanza did not.