Not troubled child.

from what I can assess, he is a broken person for sure... but we sell lots of guns (and other age restricted things) to people that have not matured...

I would hazard a guess that the perpetrator is still emotionally a child and yes unfortunately we sold guns to him...

And when does someone stop being a child nowdays?

Last edited Sat Feb 17, 2018, 06:13 PM - Edit history (1)

but yes we do sell this type of gun to 18-year-olds in Florida

edit to fix auto-correct

I'd be interested in knowing the young man's history; was he born with fetal alcohol syndrome? Did he have a positive toxic screening at birth?

As the adoptive parent of four adopted sons, all adults now, my husband and I consider two of them to be broken children. One, who came to us when he was three years old will turn 30 in April, has a very serious case of ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) because his birth mother abused cocaine and fentanyl, an opioid (which she got from the birth father when she was out of/couldn't afford to buy cocaine). He and his biological bros were physically and emotionally abused as children. Is he a broken child? Yes.

Our other son, who we raised from infancy, has just been diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa inherited from his birth mother; he's going blind at the age of 26 (he turned 27 yesterday). Not too many years ago he graduated from college with a degree in Political Science, was an AmeriCorps volunteer for two years, returned home, was looking forward to and planning his life. Now? He is horrendously depressed. We're enrolling him in The Carroll Center for the Blind where he'll learn to lead a life with his blindness. Is he a broken child? Yes.

Was the young man who slaughtered the 17 children born with the same or even worse condition(s)?

Finally, were the adoptive parents abusive to this young man as he grew up? Probably not but, what was the impact of their deaths, possibly the third and fourth experiences of being abandoned on his young life?

go to ajc.com, the headline is "Nikolas Cruz is a broken child.....". There is not great detail and none about his biological parents.

My point was actually that calling him a child AND admitting that he was old enough to legally buy that gun is troubling. Children cannot legally buy guns. So which is he? I understand that childhood experiences change your life ( my father died when I was 10) and stay with you always. It is a complicated problem.