The Hartford Courant and other media organizations requested to view Lanza’s belongings, which were seized by authorities during a search of Lanza’s home and described in a state police report released about a year after the shooting. State police rejected the requests, citing privacy rights in the state’s search and seizure law.
The Courant appealed to the state Freedom of Information Commission, which in 2015 ordered state police to release the documents. But Superior Court Judge Carl Schuman overruled the commission in 2016 — a decision overturned Tuesday in the 5-0 Supreme Court ruling.
“We feel these documents are necessary to tell a complete story in our reporting,” said Andrew Julien, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Courant. “Understanding what a mass killer was thinking not only paints a clearer picture of the individual, it helps us identify and understand red flags that could be part of a prevention formula for future mass shootings.”
It’s not immediately clear when the 35 requested items will be released. The state attorney general’s office, which represents state police and declined to comment Tuesday, could ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling or possibly appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. State police officials did not return messages seeking comment.
Among the disputed documents are a spreadsheet ranking mass murders by name and number killed and a notebook titled “The Big Book of Granny.” The notebook contains a story that Lanza wrote in the fifth grade about a woman who uses her “rifle cane” to kill people.
Information is always, or almost always, better in the brutal daylight of the public sphere. The Man made the same argument about some of Ted Kaczynski's writings, that it would inspire copy cats, etc. It hasn't, and his writings are fascinating and borderline prophetic.
Lanza was a failure in life and his writings should be available to others because they, better than almost anything else, will make plain his failure and self-delusion.
"That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy.
It is our job to see that it stays there." - George Orwell
Fat Cat wrote: ↑Thu Oct 25, 2018 10:27 pm
Information is always, or almost always, better in the brutal daylight of the public sphere. The Man made the same argument about some of Ted Kaczynski's writings, that it would inspire copy cats, etc. It hasn't, and his writings are fascinating and borderline prophetic.
Lanza was a failure in life and his writings should be available to others because they, better than almost anything else, will make plain his failure and self-delusion.
Is that a really fair comparison though? Kaczinski was a self sufficient, well educated genius; Lanza lived with his mother and was a college dropout. Potential Kaczinski's are far rarer than potential Lanza's.
"Liberalism is arbitrarily selective in its choice of whose dignity to champion." Adrian Vermeule
Turdacious wrote: ↑Thu Oct 25, 2018 9:47 pm“We feel these documents are necessary to tell a complete story in our reporting,” said Andrew Julien, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Courant. “Understanding what a mass killer was thinking not only paints a clearer picture of the individual, it helps us identify and understand red flags that could be part of a prevention formula for future mass shootings.”
This guy is knowingly lying here. A known prevention formula is to not publicize mass shooters.
One of the downsides of the Internet is that it allows like-minded people to form communities, and sometimes those communities are stupid.
