Mental Health Awareness in the Gun Community
Rob PincusDescription
Mental health and firearms is an important issue that gun owners need to be talking about. Why? Rob Pincus explains.
Walk The Talk America
Perhaps you’ve seen the WTTA logo being worn by many industry leaders in the firearms community. They are doing it because they’ve been talking a lot about the importance of recognizing that mental health should be a concern of all responsible firearms owners. Just as you need to take care of yourself physically, you also need to take care of yourself, your family and friends mentally, as one of the basic self-defense concepts.
One problem with mental health discussions in the firearms community is the fear that mental health professionals generally are in favor of gun control. Although that may be true, we are all talking about gun responsibility as well as home and personal security.
Free Anonymous Screenings
The mission of WTTA is raising awareness about mental health issues and getting resources to people inside the gun community. Toward this end, WTTA is offering free and anonymous screenings at their website. Click on the “screenings” tab and you’ll see a list of different types of mental health issues that you can anonymously take a screening for and see where you fall on the scale from having no issues in that area, or a mild issue, or a serious issue for which you should seek professional treatment.
You can also check out mental health resources, both online and in your community, a process powered by WTTA’s collaborator, Mental Health America.
Mental Health America
WTTA chose to work with MHA because it is a rights organization — MHA has been in existence for over 100 years fighting to defend the rights of people living with mental illness. MHA is here to help protect your rights as a gun owner who may have a mental health issue. They recognize that gun ownership is a civil right and needs to be protected just like any other right.
Being Part of the Conversation
If we as gun owners don’t talk about these critical issues, the anti-gun crowd will take control and establish policies and make laws that will work against us. Anti-gunners absolutely will weaponize mental health issues if we don’t become involved in the conversation.
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4 Responses to “Mental Health Awareness in the Gun Community”
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Great information that all should be informed about it’s a very real problem that can effect anyone who has weapons.
Just checking.
Thanks for raising the awareness and stressing the importance of the gun community to be talking about it mental health concerns.
Given years of incidents involving guns, I too have been concerned about this issue and what its impact might be on the future of our 2A rights. I will try the tests, but have always worried about the ability to self-diagnose. I can also understand the reluctance of others (police, judges, psychologists, etc.) to proclaim a person's incompetence to the point of removing their constitutional rights - given the prospect of lawsuits. I wish I had the magic answers.