Yoda
Member
My daughter-in-law is struggling. Her 10-year-old son, my grandson, has SEVERE emotional problems. These are the same problems that caused my youngest son--my grandson's father--to take his own life.
His constant problems have interferred with my daughter-in-law's ability to keep a job. She keeps losing babysitters and she frequently has to leave work to deal with his problems at school or to take him to medical facilities (or visit him there). At last, she is now working somewhat regular hours with a small family-owned company that understands the issues and adjusts her hours as needed.
Even so, she can't afford to live in the best neighborhoods. Instead, she lives in modest accomidations in relatively isolated rural areas. This also helps reduce trouble between my grandson and any neighbors' kids.
The dilemma? She's now living in an isolated wooded area, and she's not safe there. A few nights ago, she noticed a man wandering around on the dirt road in front of her house. The county police were very responsive, and they took the vagrant a few miles down the road and dropped him off there. Even so, she would be safer with a gun.
However, my grandson has made several suicide attempts, and he's also tried to attack his mother and his 4-year-old sister with a baseball bat. Obviously, he can never gain access to a gun. Even if a gun were stored in a safe that required a key or a keypad combo to open, I'm sure he would eventually get to it.
When I suggested to my daughter-in-law that she move in with her sister for safety, I learned that her sister is hiding from an abusive ex-boyfriend. Her mother? Not a good person to be around. A very bad person to be around.
I know there's no elegant solution to this. I just wanted to vent some frustrations. At least the state has recognized that my grandson has serious problems, and they've done a lot to try and find some combination of counseling and medication that might help...but nothing seems to have worked so far.
But back to the THR issue: I've decided not to let the daughter-in-law borrow any firearms, even though she occasionally asks. ( I once loaned her a .38 to deal with an ex-con who had directly threatened her, but I got that back after the guy went back to jail.) In a way, I'm deciding for her which is the greater danger, prowlers or her own son. However, if she acquires a gun on her own, I will give her all the training and safety gear she needs.
- - - Yoda
His constant problems have interferred with my daughter-in-law's ability to keep a job. She keeps losing babysitters and she frequently has to leave work to deal with his problems at school or to take him to medical facilities (or visit him there). At last, she is now working somewhat regular hours with a small family-owned company that understands the issues and adjusts her hours as needed.
Even so, she can't afford to live in the best neighborhoods. Instead, she lives in modest accomidations in relatively isolated rural areas. This also helps reduce trouble between my grandson and any neighbors' kids.
The dilemma? She's now living in an isolated wooded area, and she's not safe there. A few nights ago, she noticed a man wandering around on the dirt road in front of her house. The county police were very responsive, and they took the vagrant a few miles down the road and dropped him off there. Even so, she would be safer with a gun.
However, my grandson has made several suicide attempts, and he's also tried to attack his mother and his 4-year-old sister with a baseball bat. Obviously, he can never gain access to a gun. Even if a gun were stored in a safe that required a key or a keypad combo to open, I'm sure he would eventually get to it.
When I suggested to my daughter-in-law that she move in with her sister for safety, I learned that her sister is hiding from an abusive ex-boyfriend. Her mother? Not a good person to be around. A very bad person to be around.
I know there's no elegant solution to this. I just wanted to vent some frustrations. At least the state has recognized that my grandson has serious problems, and they've done a lot to try and find some combination of counseling and medication that might help...but nothing seems to have worked so far.
But back to the THR issue: I've decided not to let the daughter-in-law borrow any firearms, even though she occasionally asks. ( I once loaned her a .38 to deal with an ex-con who had directly threatened her, but I got that back after the guy went back to jail.) In a way, I'm deciding for her which is the greater danger, prowlers or her own son. However, if she acquires a gun on her own, I will give her all the training and safety gear she needs.
- - - Yoda