My mom later had a stroke and died and my sister had no place to live again. Mom's house was repo'd and I got to go clean the house out. In my sister's room, she had 2 pistols the whole time she lived with my mom. It was a miracle, IMO, that they were never used.
I'm as Second Amendment as you can get, but there needs to be something done for the mentally ill. No one could handle her and she would have had to admit herself into an institution. I couldn't do it, her sons couldn't do it, or her mother couldn't do it.
I'm old enough to remember when you could have someone "put away". It was abused to some extent and the places were straight out of hell. But today, the opposite is true. You can't get anyone committed and if you do, they are full.
Today, my sister is in government housing on her Social Security. I don't trust her with a butter knife but she is allowed to live in an apartment on her own. She won't go to a doctor for fear they will poison her and her sons have almost nothing to do with her. Luckily she doesn't have the money to go to a gun store to get a gun. I'm not sure if her mental illness diagnoses would even show on a background check. She's never been hospitalized for her condition, it was just on a doctor's evaluation at the jail.
As gun owners, if we don't do something in this area, we will lose our rights. People that have no feelings or can't discern what they feel will murder again. There are more and more mentally ill people coming up than ever before. I hate the idea of the government diagnosing whether or not I can defend myself, but I don't have an alternative. To allow the mentally ill to have access to weapons of any type is just asking for it. It won't surprise me if I get a call that my sister has stuck a butcher knife into one of her neighbors because God told her they was a demon. How would you like living next to that because you were poor?
I’m in a similar situation, only it is my baby sister.
She started using marijuana when still quite young, age 13, and it has affected her neurological system to a very great extent now at age 59.
She is borderline schizoid, manifesting paranoia and, by Oregon law, cannot possess firearms.
I had custody of her son, who is really reluctant to visit his mother.
Due to her being in constant pain, her doctor has prescribed daily morphine doses. To deal with the nausea, she has a license to smoke marijuana. So, she is stoned all the time at taxpayer’s expense as she is on Social Security and disability, gets State of Oregon housing allowance and food stamps.
Thankfully she doesn’t have access to firearms, and I have a restraining order against her, so she knows better than to come to my house.
I’m so sorry that your family faces this issue. It’s disheartening.
With respect, I must disagree with your conclusion. I would much rather risk the excesses of one individual against his/her small community than this government’s excesses against our entire country.
Liberals will abuse whatever extra power you give them. It’s in their nature.
Sincerely and Respectfully,
Rich P