ôVeterans Disarmament Billö & PTSD - Veterans

[rallytbk]

Well, hereÆs a topic for a worthy discussion û

As an Army Gulf War Veteran, I am conflicted with this new bill and what it implies.

HR 2640 Section 102((1)®(iv) aka ôVeterans Disarmament Billö denies Military Veterans with Post traumatic Stress Disorder ownership of guns.

At face value the mention of PTSD conjure up a mentally ill homeless veteran as the perfect candidate to market this bill. While it is not a crime to have or experienced a mental episode in your life, this bill unfairly classifies and denies ANYONE with PTSD as an undesirable person unworthy of their second amendment rights.

Now, of course any sane person would question why is it such a big deal if a person with a history of mental illness were denied ownership of a gun? Just look at what happened with the Virginia Tech Shootings and how it could have been prevented.

Note - Being diagnosed with PTSD does not only come from experiences in war or living a traumatic lifestyle, it comes from any traumatic experience i.e. victims of rape, victims of assault, witnesses of violent crimes or even discussing your marital problems with your shrinkà people seeking out benefits of medical treatment to help them cope with their daily lives fall under this bill, this bill does not make a distinction of how or why a person sought the need of a mental health professional, but it does penalize a person for seeking help and being diagnosed with PTSD without the person ever committing a crime (violent or otherwise). Especially if their traumatic experience happened early in their lives and they learned to deal with it and lead productive lives.

What do you say to them?

Reply requested û

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/virginiatech.shootings/

http://www.mentalhealth.com

[AaronB]

Well, hereÆs a topic for a worthy discussion û

As an Army Gulf War Veteran, I am conflicted with this new bill and what it implies.

HR 2640 Section 102((1)®(iv) aka ôVeterans Disarmament Billö denies Military Veterans with Post traumatic Stress Disorder ownership of guns.

At face value the mention of PTSD conjure up a mentally ill homeless veteran as the perfect candidate to market this bill. While it is not a crime to have or experienced a mental episode in your life, this bill unfairly classifies and denies ANYONE with PTSD as an undesirable person unworthy of their second amendment rights.

Now, of course any sane person would question why is it such a big deal if a person with a history of mental illness were denied ownership of a gun? Just look at what happened with the Virginia Tech Shootings and how it could have been prevented.

Note - Being diagnosed with PTSD does not only come from experiences in war or living a traumatic lifestyle, it comes from any traumatic experience i.e. victims of rape, victims of assault, witnesses of violent crimes or even discussing your marital problems with your shrinkà people seeking out benefits of medical treatment to help them cope with their daily lives fall under this bill, this bill does not make a distinction of how or why a person sought the need of a mental health professional, but it does penalize a person for seeking help and being diagnosed with PTSD without the person ever committing a crime (violent or otherwise). Especially if their traumatic experience happened early in their lives and they learned to deal with it and lead productive lives.

What do you say to them?

Reply requested û

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/virginiatech.shootings/

http://www.mentalhealth.com

Of course for those of us living in NYC, we're not allowed guns at all. So it's kind of moot.

[Dr Maturin]

Anything that bans guns in any way is bad.

[rallytbk]

A took a quick glance at the text of this bill and it looks like PTSD veterans are just one of a dozen categories of people who could be denied their 2nd Amendment rights. The bill allows for a lifelong gun ban simply based on a single psychologist's evaluation. The bill is amazing broad and open ended in terms of who might qualify as a ôprohibited personö. Veto.

-DougO

So in other words, if a doctor prescribes anti-depression drugs during a period in your life in which you feel the need for a prescription or the doctor feels you need to take anti-depression drugs to calm your nerves or help you with your social problems, then this act alone could deny you your second amendment rights for life, if you later apply for a gun? Damn!

How many people do you think took Zolof, Paxel and other drugs just to get by after 9/11/2001, and if background checks now include doctors notes on mental health?
Damn!

No one would have legal access to guns, except the government.

[Karachi Vyce]

No one would have legal access to guns, except the government.

That's the point.

[Jan]

The bill is far too broad and far too vague and is a huge invasion of privacy. For those reasons alone it should be opposed. It's a shame that some feel that those reasons aren't enough and that they have to designate it as a bill oppressing veterans to whip people up.

I have a big problem with situational, knee-jerk bills such as this, anyway. Just because a tragedy or some sticky situation hits the news doesn't mean that there needs to be legislation in reaction whether it's the right to die or a dreadful event like VA Tech. That just allows the media to determine our laws based on what's caught people's eyes lately.

There's a push to try to remove all risk from our lives these days and nobody seems to realize that it's neither possible or desireable to do so.

All that said, though, I'm extremely glad that a Viet Nam vet whom I dated wasn't armed many years ago, before the term PTSD was even coined, I think. He had a 'flashback' episode and didn't know me for several minutes, at one point mistaking me for an enemy. As it was, I was almost strangled. If he'd had a gun, I probably wouldn't be here.

My first thought was to have some kind of 'rating' system' for the severity of a mental health problem or a risk evaluation by a mental health professional for the purposes of denying firearms purchases (for all I know, there may be something along those lines already) but that would be supposing that the mental health science was advanced enough to make reliable calls in most situations and I'm convinced that it's not.

Jan

[Andrew_Swallow]

All that said, though, I'm extremely glad that a Viet Nam vet whom I dated wasn't armed many years ago, before the term PTSD was even coined, I think. He had a 'flashback' episode and didn't know me for several minutes, at one point mistaking me for an enemy. As it was, I was almost strangled. If he'd had a gun, I probably wouldn't be here.

The term PTSD may not have been invented but Shell Shock had. That dates back to World War 1.