Vet with PTSD has to give up guns,,,still

Where were all of these people when this happened?

Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Act
H.R. 327 (same title) 
Signed by the President — Nov 05, 2007

EXCLUSIVE: Feds Tell Veteran He Will Lose 2nd Amendment Rights Because of PTSD
Salem-News.com
Tim King and Jerry Freeman
January 9, 2014

When did serving your country become a crime?

Pat Kirby during the Vietnam War, and today.

(MYRTLE CREEK, OR) - If Pat Kirby has his guns taken away by the federal government, then everyone else is probably going to eventually face the same thing. The clock is ticking. Pat Kirby is a decorated Oregon Vietnam Veteran with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). He never imagined he would receive a letter telling him he will have to turn over his guns, or face imprisonment.
read more here

How is it that people only pay attention when it involves their personal life but otherwise, don't seem to care?

This bill did more damage to veterans than it has helped them.

Here is the whole post about losing gun rights I put up in 2009.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Suicide prevention bill prevents veterans from getting help

by
Chaplain Kathie

I did a presentation the other day for a group of veterans about PTSD. After I was done talking there was plenty of time for questions. The question most on their minds was the right to carry a gun at the same time they were getting help.

The Joshua Omvig Suicide Prevention Bill is a wonderful thing, but yet again Congress was not thinking. What this ended up doing is raise the awareness PTSD veterans need help at the same time they were begin deterred from getting it.

Would you want a PTSD veteran needing help with a gun and getting it, or would you want one with a gun and not getting it? Seems to be the question our elected should have been asking before they wrote it the way they did.

While guns are the means of choice when it comes to suicide, and there is the domestic violence issue, they can and do find other ways. When they are trained to go into combat, they are trained to rely on their weapon as their friend. When they come home with the war inside of them, many want that friend right by their side. Many veterans with PTSD go into police and defense jobs. Taking away their gun is taking away their incomes. This leaves us with a huge problem on top of the one we've had for too many years. At the same time they hear, "go for help to heal" they are told "your right to carry a gun will go away" if you do. Ever tell a combat veteran they are no longer able to carry a gun when they did it in combat?

There is no easy answer on this when it comes to preventing suicides and domestic violence when the root cause is PTSD. Awareness is wonderful and much more of it needs to be done when two thirds of the American public have no clue what it is. Educating the communities around the nation is wonderful as well as opening Veterans' Centers but if you do not get them to go for help, none of it will do much good at all.

If this part of the bill is not removed then we will keep losing more and more veterans to suicide and see their lives slip away. One more thing if you still don't understand what this did. Some troops deployed into Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD. They have guns. Some police officers have PTSD and serve on the streets everyday. They have guns. Do you think they could do their jobs without them? Do you see them all committing suicide or domestic violence with them? Taking away guns when they seek help is an easy answer to a very complex problem and was in fact the wrong answer.

I was worried about this and heard from a lot of veterans when the bill was signed. It took a good friend of mine to point this issue out when I was thinking the other way. Then more and more veterans contacted me with this concern. Now, I know for sure, it has kept them from getting help. Most of the veterans said it was their number one reason for not going for help. They've come to terms with the stigma being stupid now they have to deal with a catch in a bill to help them being stupid.

Write to your congressmen and have them get this right right now please. They've already waited long enough to begin the healing.