Wow;…no!
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True, there is that!
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The only people who get an answer to questions about my guns are my wife and the police. When my wife asks it is usually because she wants confirmation based on where we are. The police, if asking about whether i am carrying, I comply with the law. If they ask about guns other than what I am carrying, unless I know them, they do not need to know.
I do share with my church security team if I am not armed because I am expected to be. That has only happened twice where I was not. Otherwise, it is need to know only.
I recently had a doctor’s appointment with a dermatologist to remove a skin tag. When he was examining me, he asked me to lift up my shirt. Before I did, I let him know I was a retired LEO and that I was armed just so he was not surprised. It was a posted property but Kentucky allows retired LEOs to carry anywhere on-duty police can carry. He thanked me and did his thing.
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Hahaha. I just figured your post out.
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This is a huge part of the problem in figuring out who needs mental health care/help and the balancing of that need with rights.
There are a large number of people in the profession that would assert you’re demonstrating a clear case of paranoia and use that to disarm you.
We know from reviews of mass shootings that there’s a serious problem with getting help to those struggling with mental health issues but at the same time we cannot be so overly aggressive in trying to solve that problem that we created an even greater and more serious problem whereby people that do need help are so afraid it will be used against them that they refuse to acknowledge they need help much less ask for it.
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Thinking that way is paranoid
Or so the voices in my head tell me. Haha. Talk about never ending circular logic. As the saying goes just.because you are paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.
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Sure, it’s paranoia right up until TSHTF… Then it’s just good plannning!
Regards.
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I have the best PCP on the planet! I went in for a routine check-up, but I forgot to leave my firearm in my vehicle. When I was in the exam room, he lifted up my shirt - to check my lungs, with the stethoscope, and he spotted my firearm behind my back! His eyes got real big, as he looked at my fiance. He said “Jeff, next time leave it in the car, but for now, I didn’t see anything.” My fiance Michele was not too happy about this happening!!!
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Ha! 
My version: “Its all paranoia right up until it turns out to be prudence.”
There are, and that is one of the very things that makes me resist questions like this. Paranoia is an inappropriate fear or suspicion.
Exercising the very principles that the country’s founders defined as essential is not paranoid. That there are people who would remove my rights for doing so is not paranoia, it is proof.
If we don’t draw lines to protect the little things, we eventually lose the big things too. Inappropriate questions about the things I do legally by people with an agenda against those things and the power of a government behind them is on the wrong side of the line.
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Very lucky my friend. Here in this state especially the Greater Chicago metropolitan area the protocol is that the hospital goes on lockdown and SWAT is called in. Illinois has zero problems in the courts revoking Second Amendment Rights, I know 2 people that have had their Second Amendment revoked here in the so-called Great State of ILLINOIS.
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Bulldog, great post. I share your skepticism. I recently was presented the same questionnaire at my annual physical. It’s an outgrowth of the US Preventive Services Task Force. It really is none of their business whether or not you and I practice a Constitutional right. The solution to depression is not therapy or drugs, as our medical professionals would suggest. The solution is a J-O-B. I’ve worked 50-60 hours a week the past 25+ years, kept a roof over our heads, food on the table, educated my children, and had great experiences. I’m simply too busy and too blessed to be depressed. So yes … it really is none of their business.
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I am going to physical therapy for a back issue that will be ending soon. At my visit last week my therapist was asking about being able to my “everyday” activities. He knows I am former SO and i could tell him that I was was back to carrying every day, except during PT and in correctional facilities. Correctional facilitates because it is not lawful and PT because it’s not practical -I’m on my back, belly and both sides doing exercise and there is no where in the facility to secure the weapon(s).
This turned into a great discussion about EDC and an invitation to take him to the range so he could try out different guns. He hasn’t taken me up on it yet.
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@bulldog — I don’t know for certain, but I think the goal of the two questions is to help with suicide prevention. I am deeply not an expert, but I think I’ve been reading that the AMA has become concerned about the combination of guns and depression as almost half the gun deaths in the country are suicides. Unlike other forms, there is no rethinking a suicide attempt if one uses a gun, and most people who survive regret the attempt. In our state, anecdotal evidence is that our red flag law is used most often to help prevent suicide, often initiated by loved ones. Again anecdotally (please don’t ask for sources — “I read it somewhere” is the honest answer), people who were initially irate about having their guns temporarily taken were later glad that they were.
All of that being said, I’ll echo what others have said that you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.
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When I worked patrol there were occasions I had to 5150 people. That’s an involuntary commitment for up to 72 hours due to being in a mental condition where one is an immediate danger to themselves or others or being gravely disabled. In CA peace officers and MDs have this authority. I never exercised that authority lightly. When I did it was based on COMPELLING EVIDENCE.
In later years it became mandatory to take firearms under that person’s control out of their residence at the time. The person had a court hearing within 72 hours where they were committed for further treatment or released.
This general questionnaire is a governmental fishing expedition as far as I’m concerned, not based on evidence. The doctor can 5150 a person if the evidence is there. This question on the form is unnecessary and the motive behind it questionable.
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Makes sense, @bulldog. Like I said, I’m no expert, and don’t have actual data. Of course, that has never stopped me from spouting off in the past…
Thanks for sharing your experience!
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that’s the thing, right there.
The opportunity for “well we’ve got that data over there, we could go use it for this” is not something I think is even remotely unlikely - they’re doing it now with facial recognition searches of drivers licenses without warrants or legal permission or informing the subjects of those searched right now.
But hey, they’ve got the data, and they see the use for it, and they don’t really care if they’re violating anyone’s rights… and noone should be worried unless they’ve broken the law, anyway, right? I mean this system never fails, always produces the right answer and the right suspect, and if you don’t have anything to hide, why are you complaining about this, because it’s for your own good anyway? I mean, do you want people to have guns if someone thinks they might be unbalanced? Don’t we publicly shame all the people who should have reported someone as having a mental issue, but didn’t? Besides, what are YOU worried about, did you do something you don’t want anyone to know about? Are you planning to?!? Maybe we SHOULD be looking at you!! Because you wanting to keep your gun ownership private when “everyone knows” its just our benevolent government trying to do a better job of protecting you from yourself … well that might just be paranoia and paranoid people are dangerous…
Ok, I know I’m ranting here, but If the data is collected, it will be used without your permission for purposes you would never authorize it to be used for, and in violation of your rights. That is how these things go, over and over. If you’re not convinced, go see if you can even find out if your state allows the FBI, state or federal law enforcement agencies to do facial recognition searches against your state drivers license database. A lot of states and municipalities were caught doing this, and a few states are now passing laws to prevent it, but in most states you can’t even find out if they’re doing it or not.
And if they won’t tell us they aren’t, maybe that means they are? Just like when you say “not your business” on the “do you have a gun” question at the doctor’s office means you have guns.
Just sayin’
/rant
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I like the way you think.
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Great points about being concerned about someone’s wellbeing, @Charles26!
I just changed doctors recently and my doctor asked about my firearms. She was recommended to me and I had met her before I saw her as my doctor the first time.
She asked, because she was looking for a new carry gun herself and wanted some suggestions. She is also considering holding a concealed carry class for her office and asked me for more information on that!
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If someone is being treated for a mental illness then I can understand asking. If there’s not a history of it then why bother? In my opinion this is a stealth registry for firearms. History has shown what registration leads to.
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My brother said the first lesson he was taught in Medical School on his Psychiatric rotations is that if someone “Thinks they are out to get me”, “They” probably are so eliminate that before diagnosing paranoia.
Here’s the loop as I see it. Things like red flag laws and laws requiring Doc’s to ask such intrusive questions related to same is that there are millions of people in the country that need some help who aren’t yet over the edge or dangerous who are afraid to get the help they need because of the fear of a loss of rights.
The biggest problem for many decades was that people were afraid of the social stigma of needing psychological or psychiatric help but we’re pretty well beyond that.
The rush to disarm anyone who’s had a bad day or might at some point possibly commit a crime with a gun is doing far more harm than the old stigma associated with “mental issues”.
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