Oregon Shooter's Mom Boasted About Guns

Laurel Harper boasted online about having guns for protection, but it was her son who turned out to be the most dangerous person in the community. In social media postings, mostly on Yahoo Answers, Christopher Harper-Mercer's mother, a nurse, doled out medical advice, as well as spoke about guns and Asperger's syndrome, which she said both she and her son struggled with, the New York Times reports. "I keep two full mags in my Glock case. And the ARs & AKs all have loaded mags," Harper, who lived with her son, wrote in one post. "No one will be 'dropping' by my house uninvited without acknowledgement."

In a Facebook post, Harper said she had moved from California to Oregon for open carry laws and that when the "mood strikes," she would "sling an AR, Tek-9 or AK over my shoulder" before going out, reports Salon. Harper said she learned a lot about gun laws from her son, who "has much knowledge in this field," reports the Times, which notes that police have recovered 14 firearms owned by Harper-Mercer or a relative, including the six found on his body after his rampage at Umpqua Community College. More:

• In a Yahoo Answers post, Harper told a parent worried about an autistic infant that she should try reading to the child. "Fact: Before my son was even born, I was reading out loud to him from Donald Trump's 'The Art of the Deal,'" she wrote, and he now "invests in the stock market along with me, turns a profit, and is working on a degree in finance."
• A woman who hired Harper to care for her son tells the New York Daily News that the nurse told her about her support for gun rights and her desire to stockpile guns before they were banned. She says Harper told her about taking her son to shooting ranges, which she found odd. "I thought the whole situation was very strange," she says. "If you know your son has mental health issues, do you encourage a fascination with guns?"
• The White House says President Obama will be in Roseburg on Friday and will "visit privately with families of victims," the Oregonian reports.

(A petition on the White House's We the People site calls for injured hero Chris Mintz to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.)