Military Suicides and Private Weapons

Of course, with proper oversight, appeals procedures and decisions taken on a case by case basis is the only way such things can reasonably happen.

Most people with mental health issues are no more likely than anybody else to pose a threat to themselves or others.
 
Run your car head-on into a semi. Jump off a bridge or tall building. Or if the soldier is intent on using a gun, buy another one off base legally or illegally. Taking away the guns they already have probably isn't going to be any more than a temporary inconvenience if they are determined to do it.

If there are indications that they are in that severe state of mind, perhaps they should be institutionalized until they are healthy.
 
The point is that if you detect suicidal ideation, you can slow them down for intervention. Having a firearm easily accessible may be dangerous.

If you do take guns and do nothing, yep -they can find another means.

It's not a black and white situation.
 
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I have known six people, I think, who committed suicide. Five used a gun. The other didn't. I've also known one murder victim; shot in bed while asleep.
 
I will preface this post with stating that I platoon mate of mine decided he had all that he could take and took his own life. Yes, he used a handgun. He was truly the last casualty of our unit form our deployment. I was depply affected by this and still wonder what else we, being those of us who knew him in the civillian world, could have done.

Further more, after I returned from my deployment, I underwent a brief, I mean very brief, pyscological screening. It was a very short questionnaire and a ten minute chat with an Army contract psycologist.

I was pinged for being at risk of suffering from PTSD.

I answered that yes I drank for than twice a week(I'm in college, did that before deployment) and that yes I sometimes had problems sleeping. And ebcause of that they recommended for me to seek counseling at the local VA hospital.

What worries me is that I am perfectly adjusted, yes, I still drink, and yes I still have nightmares, but that doesn't mean my rights should be abridges, especially since I'm now just an individual reservist now.

It all smacks of setting a dangerous precendent to me.
 
SPEMack618 said:
...yes, I still drink, and yes I still have nightmares, but that doesn't mean my rights should be abridges, especially since I'm now just an individual reservist now.

It all smacks of setting a dangerous precendent to me.
Click to expand...

Use of alcohol is perfectly legal here. I suspect 70% of the people here drink because about 70% of adults in the US drink, and I think most readers here are from the US.

If you don't drink in a manner that affects your other parts of life, girl friend not leaving you, parents not hounding you about drinking, etc then your drinking is in the norm and so what. No one else's business.

If it does affect your life then it's foolish to let a bottle hurt you. And that has nothing to do with guns. If it's bad news for you or me we should get rid of it in our life like a nest of of rats in the cellar. (I know; easier said than done.)

I think you're right, however. Much the same way that there is an ominous undercurrent discussed a few weeks ago that gun owners are being painted as social diseased individuals, there is an ominous undercurrent to paint returning veterans as "All" unstable. Which is patently not correct.

And maybe I'm just paranoid. But no one is accusing me, since I'm decades too old to be a returning veteran. I'm merely observing what I see about a group that I am not a part of. The slant that I perceive against veterans doesn't apply to me. I'm making a observation without pinning the detriment on me.
 
medical issues/HIPPA laws/2A-firearms...

My state, which has a US Navy veteran as elected Gov, passed new laws that keep medical doctors/medical professionals from asking about firearms in some cases & not having firearms/concealed carry as issues for foster parents-adoption.

HIPPA laws(the laws that protect medical patients rights-privacy) are part of it too.

As I posted, trauma & mental health issues are a serious problem for many US service members and combat veterans today.
ALL firearms owners & concealed license holders should use common sense, good judgement & sound practices re: firearms, ammunition, hunting, etc.

There are no easy answers but veterans & those with medications should keep these factors in mind.

ClydeFrog
 
I don't think that the suicide rate is affected significantly by private firearm ownership. Canada for example has a comparable, if not a higher, suicide rate than that in the USA even though Canada has much tougher screening for legal firearm owners, very strict storage and transportation laws, and a low rate of firearm ownership in comparison to the USA to begin with.

Of course it could be that living in Canada just makes people much more depressed than those living in the USA, but polls and sociological data offer no evidence for it.

Existing laws (at least in Canada) allow intervention which actually removes the person from their home rather than the firearms, provided a court judge considers the evidence of urgency adequate. But removing someone's property because they're depressed and depressed people sometimes commit suicide would be a violation of rights in my opinion.
 
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