My father has Alzheimer's and two guns, and revolver and a .22. He becomes angry easily these days and his wife and I would like the guns out of the house, however, he has them locked in his office and he has the only key. He recently told me about the guns, smirking as he told me he has plenty of ammunition. His wife asked him to give them to my husband and he refuses. I realize we will have to take these weapons but I am very afraid of his reaction and the possibility that he will obtain other weapons.
He's had it for years so it's a long term memory that sticks with him. I found the gun and disabled it and stuck it back in his hiding place. It's been over a year and I haven't heard a peep.
We cannot allow dementia patients to have access to guns.
follow your conscience and do the right thing. Yes,
they get mad. Do it anyway.
Most of you are aware of our member comment policies and know that we do not allow direct solicitation of our members. We were contacted by JoNel Aleccia specifically regarding this thread. Although it is an older thread, it has received recent attention due to current events. We vetted the request, and would like to support Ms. Aleccia's work toward furthering information on aging and end of life issues. In order to honor your anonymous use of the forum we have decided to proceed in this direction, allowing you to make the decision to make contact with her. If you would like to participate in an article regarding this topic, please reach out to JoNel Aleccia at the email below. As always, we appreciate the advice and support each of you regularly provide in the forum.
I am a reporter with Kaiser Health News, the health policy news service and am part of the team focused on issues surrounding aging and the end of life. I'm working on a story about gun access among people with dementia and I see an interesting thread regarding the issue on the AgingCare.com site. Is it possible to contact any of the users on the site directly? I'd like to ask if they'd be willing to discuss their experiences.
Thanks,
JoNel Aleccia
JoNelA@kff.org
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