What can be learned from Sandy Hook?

[Lurks Often]

1. AL was never diagnosised as mentally/emotionally unstable

What he was diagnosed as was being autistic. Obviously with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight we can look back and say AL was batshit crazy, but the evidence and symptoms were likely not apparent to his mother. The mental health professionals AL saw as a child and teen either missed the symptoms, AL was smart enough to hide the symptoms, or the mental health professionals saw some of the signs, but kicked the bucket down the road because they did not feel they had enough evidence to get a judge to sign off on confining him to a mental health facility.

Sandy Hook locked the doors after the kids came in the morning, a protocol most schools seem to follow these days. However locked doors don't do much good when there is a floor to ceiling glass panel next to the doorway which he shattered with gunfire and then entered the school. I think it is possible to take some common sense precautions when it comes to school design which can improve student safety without making it look like a prison.