Any LEO's here (or part of the Blue Family)?

rockfarmerswife

My DH is retired police - work he did for most of his life before he went on disability.  He held many positions from patrol to detective to eventually being patrol captain and then administrative captain.  I have been a Blue Wife for my entire marriage (and still consider myself part of that family).  The question I have is about firearm safety - for many LEO's their firearm is an extension of themselves.  How do you keep them (and others) safe is the situation of dementia of the LEO?

Rick4407

If you search a bit you will find this question has been asked many times, the answer is always the same.  Remove all firearms and ammunition from the house.  Many things can happen with them around and none of them are good.  Where to put them is your choice, family member, friend, or sell.   You do not want them around.  Rick

loveskitties

I understand your concern about firearms as well as the feeling LO may have about wanting to keep them.

If parting with them will make things more difficult, perhaps you could have them made inoperable...removal of firing pin...trigger...something of the sort.  Perhaps someone in the Blue Family could come by to do that for you.

We were fortunate that my father willingly sold them to a family member before things got too concerning.

Rick4407

In your posts you mention his anger.  I will add that makes it a real potential that at some point he will be angry enough and acting out that a 911 call will be made.   If he has a firearm, even an inoperable one, when the responders arrive it may quickly lead to a tragic outcome.   You need to get those firearms out of your house.   Rick

Buggsroo

My husband has a gun from his pear farming days. Here in Canada, the police will pick up firearms and take them from the home. Sadly due to the pandemic, this has been sharply curtailed. I have hidden the unloaded gun somewhere, where he never looks. Luckily he has no memory of owning one. There is no ammunition with it. 

As was said by another commenter and yourself, your husband has anger issues. So that coupled with firearms is a bad idea. Hopefully his colleagues could come and disable the firearms or remove them entirely.

60 falcon

I'm a retired Law Enforcement Officer and I know there is at least one other spouse of a retired LEO on here.  The gun issue has come up several times.  The only good options are to remove them from the house entirely or lock them up without any possibility of the LO having access.  Period.  They won't like it, but too bad.

I'ma staunch supporter of our 2nd amendment and am (was) an avid hunter.  My DW is a survivor and victim of violence from before I met her. She carried a handgun for years.  One of my sons took some of the guns and the rest are locked up with zero chance DW will ever access them. Maybe you have family that can take them?

I used to think just disabling the guns and removing ammunition was enough.  It's not enough.  It's just one more difficult decision that caregivers need to make for the safety of our loved ones and for the safety of ourselves and everyone else around them.  It's not much different than getting our LOs to quit driving.  

loveskitties

Rick4407, you made an excellent point about others (first responders) not knowing the firearms are inoperable could lead to tragic consequences.  That never crossed my mind.  

So glad we have so many willing to share their knowledge and thought on any subject.

rockfarmerswife

Falcon60 - thank you for your response.  I guess I just needed to hear it from a brother in blue.  I will get the gun cabinet out of storage, and keep the key with me.  This will allow me to have access if needed (we sometimes have to shoot rattlesnakes where we live), but will not give him access.