How Many More?
Another mass shooting. Another day of hearing about changing the gun laws. This is my story:
Yesterday the physical therapist agency called to tell me they were pulling their staff because my dad has a gun. My dad has dementia with a pre-existing mental illness. He has pulled a gun on my grandmother, mother and threatened my husband with a gun. I've got relatives calling, his friends, etc, all asking me why don't I do something. I tell them the same thing. The law has prevented me from doing something. You see my father has been deemed competent by his doctor. As such, I'm prevented from walking into his house and taking the guns away that the constitution says he is allowed to hold.
The law said if I walk into his house and take his guns, I'm a thief. The same law states that should I drive to the police station with his guns that I'm a law-breaker because I lack the concealed carry permit that would allow it. The same laws state that I can be arrested if I decide to ignore these laws. I would be locked up and the guns given back to him because he is competent.
The laws are not protecting us.
I've spent the better part of my life preventing him from going after someone with a gun that no mentally ill person should have. I've called social workers, lawyers, talked to an ex-cop. He is competent, they tell me. And that's the end of it.
Change the gun laws? Would that solve it? Sadly no. Too late for that. 3D printers are already making guns. Within five years or so, making a gun in the privacy of your own home will be as easy as making coffee. Instead, we need to create a better mental health community. We need to open all the mental hospitals that were closed starting in the 60s. We need to stop putting the mentally ill in prisons and homeless shelters and offer them real help.
I sit here watching the latest shooting, wondering if his relatives tried to get help for him like I did for my dad. Were they told he was competent? Did they sit and cry, feeling totally helpless as they watched their loved one plot to kill?
Yesterday the physical therapist agency called to tell me they were pulling their staff because my dad has a gun. My dad has dementia with a pre-existing mental illness. He has pulled a gun on my grandmother, mother and threatened my husband with a gun. I've got relatives calling, his friends, etc, all asking me why don't I do something. I tell them the same thing. The law has prevented me from doing something. You see my father has been deemed competent by his doctor. As such, I'm prevented from walking into his house and taking the guns away that the constitution says he is allowed to hold.
The law said if I walk into his house and take his guns, I'm a thief. The same law states that should I drive to the police station with his guns that I'm a law-breaker because I lack the concealed carry permit that would allow it. The same laws state that I can be arrested if I decide to ignore these laws. I would be locked up and the guns given back to him because he is competent.
The laws are not protecting us.
I've spent the better part of my life preventing him from going after someone with a gun that no mentally ill person should have. I've called social workers, lawyers, talked to an ex-cop. He is competent, they tell me. And that's the end of it.
Change the gun laws? Would that solve it? Sadly no. Too late for that. 3D printers are already making guns. Within five years or so, making a gun in the privacy of your own home will be as easy as making coffee. Instead, we need to create a better mental health community. We need to open all the mental hospitals that were closed starting in the 60s. We need to stop putting the mentally ill in prisons and homeless shelters and offer them real help.
I sit here watching the latest shooting, wondering if his relatives tried to get help for him like I did for my dad. Were they told he was competent? Did they sit and cry, feeling totally helpless as they watched their loved one plot to kill?
Replies
Have you told his Dr. That his nurses have been pulled because of the gun he has. Doesn\'t that make him involved also. Can you get another Dr to say that he isn\'t competent. I understsnd your frustration on this. I can only hope that you find an answer for yourself and for your dad.
The doctor has been told.
Is there any way to get a second opinion? I am sorry you are still having to deal with this. If those relatives call you again, give them the doctor\'s number and tell them to call him and give him a piece of their minds, not you. Love and Hugs, Martha
I am so sorry Truhal, for some reason I haven\'t been getting your journals? I surely don\'t know what the answer to this gun violence is either. But, mainstreaming those with metal illness has not helped. Again, the signs were probably there a long time ago. Such a shame. Hugs and Love to you, Michele
guns don\'t kill people, hearts kill people. I agree its the Mental Health system, if you look at the last several killings mentally ill people. Yet they were able to get guns legally. Yet in our country we can not let mental health professionals publish to a data base where gun shops can access to stop selling them a gun. That could possibly stop many killings, as mentally ill would take time to than find another gun somewhere at least not right away possibly adverting and stopping the momentum. WHY?
The office that pulled their staff should put in a report to the local law enforcement, as well as letting his primary care doctor know....I believe that\'s the law for them to do so. And you should get a written statement from them to that fact. That letter can than be given to local law enforcement which can than let mental health facilities know.