Does the ongoing discussion regarding gun possession and seeking psychological help for PTSD seem like a Catch "22" to anyone else?

Service Members had a hard time seeking Medical Help (et al) because they feared it would end their Careers. Now imagine that same concept, but with Civil Protections.

I have a friend who the VA unceremoniously declared "incompetent" (via letter, not via Court) to handle her own affairs after a 15 minute interview with a VA Doctor. She had to fight to get that overturned.

Do you really think Vets are going to give the Government "an inch of rope" when we know they'll take a mile?

What a load of horseshit. My VA mental health survey had the question "Do you own any firearms in your household" I answered in big letters "NONE OF YOU F%$&KING BUSINESS" . When I spoke to my mental health conselor and she seemed a bit confused I asked her if she didnt think it was Ironic that Every 3 months the VA gives me enough pills to commit suicide or poison someone else with 100 times over and they want to worry about MY guns?

Very much, ma'am! It's one of the few reasons that I personally don't want to talk with anyone at the VA about PTSD. We'd likely be the first to be DQ'd from gun ownership in a proposed bill/law. It's unfortunate but realistic. Maj Kim Patterson

While I am diagnosed w/ PTSD, I don't know how I would handle having to turn in my weapons. They aren't only for me, but for protection of my family as well. So I would be HIGHLY upset!

Maj Kim Patterson No I don't think it is appropriate. Congress has already approved the likelihood this will be done in the recent passing of legislation. Yes it does. "The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS or “the Department”) is issuing this final rule to modify the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule to expressly permit certain HIPAA covered entities to disclose to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) the identities of individuals who are subject to a Federal “mental health prohibitor” that disqualifies them from shipping, transporting, possessing, or receiving a firearm. The NICS is a national system maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to conduct background checks on persons who may be disqualified from receiving firearms based on Federally prohibited categories or State law."

Maj Kim Patterson
In short, NO.

Looking at this from all angles, I feel this is the tip of the iceberg. Grant it ,some people should not own guns because of mental incompetence. But there has got to be a better way of handling this issue.
With this said. Is the federal government going to use mental health " Which is a broad spectrum !" to grab guns ? PTSD, The Elderly,and the list goes on.... Could our 1st Amendments rights be used against us ?
For example, I speak out against something on social media that I feel strongly about. someone see's it and is offended. Then I either become a racist or have a phobia. They report me to the authorities . The authorities now put me on a watch list...... "Do you see where this is going ?" I hope this is not the case !
This has happened throughout history. I hope we do not repeat it ! I think I will stick with my guns on this one.........

Although I don't suffer from PTSD, I would be extremely leery of ever being evaluated simply because of the current push from the left to equivocate it to my gun rights. Does anyone else feel this way?

It's a "Double Edged Sword" for sure Major; In a lot of ways it's a "Red Herring"... one the current Administration, Liberal Politicians and those with gun banning on the brain in general, have come up with to further throw a monkey wrench in private gun ownership's machinery... I'd sooner trust the judgment of the majority of current & former military people with or without PTSD with firearms, more than I do some of those in government with a pen in theirs!

Their arguments are bogus and they know it... guns don't cause shootings, any more than knives cause stabbings, automobiles cause automobile accidents, pools cause drowning or hammers or baseball bats cause people to be bludgeoned to death...

All those occurrences are caused by other people wielding those and other devices that are often employed as tools of destruction against their fellows, rather than the uses for which they were intended. A gun is a tool, just like a hammer or a knife, it serves a purpose, when "properly" employed in defense of self or another as protection or as a weapon of war... when used to murder or maim it is a CRIME and the user/perpetrator should be treated as a "Criminal" and prosecuted as such.

Law abiding gun owners should be left alone. If guns are taken from all citizens, then all security guards, police and secret service protection should be removed from all governments representatives from the President on down, so they may have the privilege and opportunity of living without protection, just as the rest of us would have to and be at the mercy of the Criminal elements who are not going to comply with the law, no matter what it is!

The rest of the "law abiding populace" should not be continually persecuted for the "illegal" acts of a "Criminal". "Illegal Acts or actions of a "Rogue member or members of a Government" should also be prosecuted for the mis-application of the Laws as they currently exist... unless said law is changed by a vote of "We the People" as set forth in the Constitution itself! Like the man said... they can have mine when they pry it from... well you get the picture!

I feel this issue is the perfect example of giving them reasons to Have a News Heading if something should go bad.