Crazy is a lyrically overused word not used by enlightened people. Psychiatrists resist such words that could offend or stigmatize someone. Maybe if I were a Physician that could deal with these folks in a controlled and clinical setting, then I might feel that way. But after thirty-six years in law enforcement, where I have have dealt with a myriad of people with mental disorders, I can only say that we all want what is best for that person, but I learned quickly not to turn your back to them and be prepared for trouble, whether intentional or not.
Reasons for Concealed Carry: My Interview with a Psychopath
- Thread starter Mike H.
- Start date
Psychdog_1911
Alpha
For years now I have not left home without one of my pistols on me. It used to be as a child that I would would watch the news or read the newspapers and see that an assault, murder, or a robbery happened in one of the bigger cities surrounding me. But, nowadays it is normal to see the headlines that an assault, murder, or robbery has happened in my hometown or in my neighborhood. I even carry to church because of what has happened in churches across America. When I first bought and brought home a firearm my wife asked me why I had purchased it. I told her that I was going to do everything in my power to protect us and prevent us from becoming another statistic and victims of violence. I know that it is cliche; but, I would rather have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it!
Smiledon#57
Operator
I am a male RN with almost 40 years working. Unfortunately, when someone who is suffering a mental health crisis, that individual must be protected from themselves, or others. My oldest sister is in this category. It is not compassion in allowing someone with a mental illness to live on the streets, where that person can become a victim, or victimize others. New York subway case comes to mind. Most deep blue states and cities foster such an attitude. Some of these people can live on their own, but most may need constant medical supervision. Either for compliance with their medications, or they are just too dangerous to be on their own. Sexual dysfunction, weight gain, or how the person feels emotionally are reasons why compliance is a major issue. Some say cost is an issue, and in some cases, yes. But when medication is provided, some will stop for the above reasons. I would not want to be forced to use deadly force because of a health crisis that could have been prevented.Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “Reasons for Concealed Carry: My Interview with a Psychopath” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/reasons-for-concealed-carry/.
My soap box on this issue.
Smiledon#57
Operator
If we could reinstitute have a place for the mentally ill, our streets would become that much safer. Also, to some degree, these people could even hold down jobs. Compliance with their medication is a big issue since some of the side effects are not pleasant.
Hi Allen, sorry to hear about you,re getting shot and ending your career. I came on in 1979 and worked through the academy to be rewarded with being able to be field trained byour previous Office of the Year. My Department was Anne Arundel County, in Maryland, we have just over seven hundred sworn members.
On our second night of 3-11 shift we responded to a shots fired call involving a young man on drugs. Bruce took a 12 gauge rifled slug that broke his shoulder, went down and exited through his back. The second slug caught me in my right, shooting hand. Today I still have to be treated for lead poisoning.
About two years ago I underwent another surgery to remove two large pieces of lead on the artery in my arm. I was told that another two or three millimeters more and I would have lost my arm. I was out initially for two years while they pieced me back together. I then went on to do my thirty-six years.
Most folks do not realize what the Blue Line does on a regular basis. This thread on mental illness simple reminds me that those in law enforcement have to deal with whatever call for service comes in. We don’t get to pick or turn our backs and say “let someone else deal with it.” Thank you for your service.
paladinbst3k
Alpha
Anther problem is when the economy goes through down cycles funding for programs and services is cut. I know someone who had an adult child in special care and he got a call saying funding was cut due to the recession and your son is coming home so get ready.
That is not a left or right issue but a funding issue. Most politicians have pet projects they will beg borrow or steal to fund and others they easily cut but those programs do something for someone and we are seeing more of the impact from such cuts on our streets.
I do not know anyone who denies the mental health crisis in the US but what is being done?
Thoughts and prayers more than anything so they fall through the cracks and police, teachers or an unsuspecting citizen end up dealing with a bad situation.
It ends up on the news leading to more thoughts and prayers.
HayesGreener
Ronin
They don't have to be crazy to be dangerous. Some folks are just predators. Anyone who ever spent much time around a middle school has seen it, that is the age they begin to show themselves.
A police academy instructor more than 50 years ago put it into perspective for me. "There is someone out there who wants to kill you. If you are both alive at the end of your shift, it is because the two of you have not yet crossed paths". That reality is, ultimately, why good people go armed.
A police academy instructor more than 50 years ago put it into perspective for me. "There is someone out there who wants to kill you. If you are both alive at the end of your shift, it is because the two of you have not yet crossed paths". That reality is, ultimately, why good people go armed.
PAGunGuy
Master Class
I work as a parole agent, so all of our people have been in state prison, so they either have a really bad offense, or a history of a lot of offenses.
Mental health is something we deal with a lot.
It's almost impossible anymore to get someone 302'ed, and I have lost count of how many times a hospital has turned someone away for admission because of how the person answered the doctor's questions, despite us telling them about the behavior's we witnessed.
And we can't force people to take their medications, which, as other have said, usually do work.
Then, you add in the meth, which they are all doing, and it amps the problem up to a whole new level. It really does amplify existing mental health problems, and, it causes them in those that haven't had it. It's very difficult to differentiate a mental health break vs a meth high.
But regardless of whether they or high or having a mental health break doesn't make them any less dangerous.
I pretty much always carried before I got this job, but now, I definitely always do.
Mental health is something we deal with a lot.
It's almost impossible anymore to get someone 302'ed, and I have lost count of how many times a hospital has turned someone away for admission because of how the person answered the doctor's questions, despite us telling them about the behavior's we witnessed.
And we can't force people to take their medications, which, as other have said, usually do work.
Then, you add in the meth, which they are all doing, and it amps the problem up to a whole new level. It really does amplify existing mental health problems, and, it causes them in those that haven't had it. It's very difficult to differentiate a mental health break vs a meth high.
But regardless of whether they or high or having a mental health break doesn't make them any less dangerous.
I pretty much always carried before I got this job, but now, I definitely always do.
Sad fact is there ARE people who need to be institutionalized for their protection AND the protection of the community at large. They should not be mistreated BUT they most definitely should NOT be walking the streets. I worked in healthcare for well over 4 decades, I have, literally, been in hundreds of hospitals and I can tell you there are some seriously scary folks out there walking the streets. I’ve seen them being put on meds, they straighten up, and they’re turned loose, over and over again. Methinks folks in the future will be shocked at the way we toss these folks back on the street to fend for themselves.
The Night Rider
Professional
I don't disagree with this but my question is how do we pay for it?
Mr. Untactical
Master Class
This information needs to be public knowledge, and repeated frequently until someone at some level of government catches on that mass shootings are largely preventable if institutionalized mental healthcare is reinstated.
Mr. Untactical
Master Class
Another thought on this after reading most of the comments: There are evil people in the world. Whether we believe they are demon-possessed, like "Frank" or simply "mentally ill" the outcomes are the same. And beyond those who are possessed or labor under one or more psychoses, are the ones who are simply evil because they like it.
Society today likes to believe that evil doesn't exist and that people who do bad things are just in need of medical care, are misunderstood, have been mistreated, or some other "it's not their fault" reason (or all of the above).
There is a massive mental health crisis in this country and our leadership's solution is to assume if they can take away all the "sharp objects" everyone will be just fine.
Society today likes to believe that evil doesn't exist and that people who do bad things are just in need of medical care, are misunderstood, have been mistreated, or some other "it's not their fault" reason (or all of the above).
There is a massive mental health crisis in this country and our leadership's solution is to assume if they can take away all the "sharp objects" everyone will be just fine.
Dear Dr. Dabbs,Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “Reasons for Concealed Carry: My Interview with a Psychopath” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/reasons-for-concealed-carry/.
I read your story with great interest regarding your carrying a concealed firearm and why you carry a weapon. There is much compassion and empathy in your writing about patients who suffer from mental illness but also a realistic perspective that should it come to your life, or that of your loved one's, you are prepared to do what is necessary. I enjoyed your article and am grateful for your education, experience, military service, and dedication to helping others while supporting firearms carry as a realistic measure against the, sometimes, unthinkable! Once again, thank you for your contribution to the community and taking time to offer your perspective on carrying a concealed firearm.
Bassbob
Emissary
Quit paying that dude in the Ukraine would be a good start.
In another life I worked at the main acute care community hospital in Salem, OR...the state capital. As such, it is also the home of the Oregon State Penitentiary, The Women's Prison and the Oregon State Hospital...the actual facility from Kesey's "novel", "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". When there was a medical issue the individual facilities could not handle, or if the inmate/prisoner was in transit or something, they were brought to us for, for example, phlebotomy and some laboratory analysis. As a Medical Technologist, and state licensed there to do medico-legal alcohols, I usually got that duty. Patients were usually shackled & of course, escorted. There were some that were only recently off the street, which is scary.
To quote Richard Pryor...."I'm glad we've got penitentiaries!"
To quote Richard Pryor...."I'm glad we've got penitentiaries!"
I worked the LAPD Mental Evaluation Unit as a Detective. Yes, L.A. had enough crazies to keep 10 detectives working 24/7. We offered a determination as to whether or not the subject could be transported to Unit 3, the psych ward at L.A. County Hospital. 5150 of the Welfare and Institution Code states that a person who is a danger to self or others or is unable to care for self or property can be pulled off the streets. We had Alzheimers people, others with AIDS related dementia, who were scary as they had an violent urge to infect others; pure squirrelly people, Mr Mars was one…he was arrested at a gas station trying to get people filling their cars to fill a bag with gas so he could pour the gas over himself and then borrow a match to ignite it.
Several people thought they were the Devil, but no Napoleons. They were scary because they thought they had the right to kill people and send their souls to Hell. Another was Raymond George. In the late 70s he had killed an officer by calling the police on himself, then lying in wait for them to arrive. He assaulted an officer, grabbing his firearm from his hand, then fired under his vest. He was also shot but survived and adjudged insane, to spent 10 years in the state funny farm. When he was released to a halfway house we made sure the Police Division knew who he was and where he was. Last I heard about him was he had decided the Devil was inside his head and had taken a thin blunt ended steak knife and rammed it into his eye socket. The blade bent around the eye socket but jammed there. Had a picture of him on a gurney with the knife in his eye.
All this happened 30+ years ago. I retired from injuries in 1994 after 23 years of service.
Several people thought they were the Devil, but no Napoleons. They were scary because they thought they had the right to kill people and send their souls to Hell. Another was Raymond George. In the late 70s he had killed an officer by calling the police on himself, then lying in wait for them to arrive. He assaulted an officer, grabbing his firearm from his hand, then fired under his vest. He was also shot but survived and adjudged insane, to spent 10 years in the state funny farm. When he was released to a halfway house we made sure the Police Division knew who he was and where he was. Last I heard about him was he had decided the Devil was inside his head and had taken a thin blunt ended steak knife and rammed it into his eye socket. The blade bent around the eye socket but jammed there. Had a picture of him on a gurney with the knife in his eye.
All this happened 30+ years ago. I retired from injuries in 1994 after 23 years of service.
Funding/Facilities/Staffing are the major problems. I feel society needs 3 different types of housing
Pure Criminals
Criminals with mental issues
People with Mental issues
The part that gives people grief is accepting there are people that don't belong in daily society. I also don't believe all criminals have mental issues.
Pure Criminals
Criminals with mental issues
People with Mental issues
The part that gives people grief is accepting there are people that don't belong in daily society. I also don't believe all criminals have mental issues.
Sounds like a plan. I dealt with all three. You have to feel for the wanderers, those who mental faculties have disappeared and they have no family interested in taking care of them. Then there are those who, like my Mr. Mars( as he preferred to be called) who are insane but are a danger to the public, and the criminally insane, who may be loopy but have no compulsion against being a serious criminal.
The first need to be housed in comfortable quarters, the second, maybe not so comfortable, and the last in a jail, not a mental institution. All of the three are too far gone to be assisted, in the long run, by any type of psychological help. To me that is just a gimmick. While psychological assistance can work in those afflicted to a lesser degree, with those we have been talking about, it is just a waste of time!
Interesting subject as being involved with homicide for over 15 years in LE, I have met three or four true sociopaths in a criminal situation, as it often involved several victims. I have met them in Society as well with stronger tells, yet not criminals at all, but wouldn't drink any coffee they brewed... However, I believe today and from observations that the medical field is creating more, with the wholesale disbursement of psychotropic drugs. Just look any "school" shooting and not the anti-gunners BS over "mass". In the school shootings at a rate well above 90%, that are or were taking them and sometimes for many years. Deny the science if you wish, but just read the label and ask why the Hell are we giving these to millions and wonder why the homicides are "He/she were nice and I don't believe it."
The dude that cancelled elections bc of "democracy"? The dude that is no longer the legitimate leader of that nation? The dude that closed houses of worship and arrested clergy? The dude that has goons roving the country and beating people, then dragging them into vans to be shipped to the front? The dude that won't agree to any talks despite the country bombed into the moonscape? The dude that passed all kinds of EO type rules that he can't be criticized? Much more could be said but I'll leave it at that.