Veteran attacked in Washington DC

On the one hand, you can't always tell if someone's suicidal. One of my teachers left for the day after telling me he was excited to go golfing during the sunny weekend ahead. He was upbeat, joking, and like his normal self. He went home and put a bullet through his head within two hours of my last conversation with him.

But, the police certainly went overkill with this case. I hope he wins his suit against them.

Binoculars are hazardous material?

Marvelous.

Lesson from this: Don't call hotlines.

Just what we want suicidal people to think.

Gritz: very good point. Mental health professionals generally try really hard to avoid things like this so that people, generally reluctant to get help in the first place (the stigma issue for one thing), won't avoid it like the plague.

His mistake was to call the VA, which is often viciously anti-gun and is in general not an example of excellence in government or health care.

This part of the VA says they not share your information without permission, "However, if you are in imminent danger or at risk of harming others, a rescue will be coordinated with local officials."

This of course must be some new definition of the word "rescue", but it's entirely possible that as soon as "Beth" at the VA said "gun" the D.C. police went berserk without concern for his well being. Or perhaps her role was objectively malign; I doubt we'll ever find out.

I have always failed to understand how police help suicidal people by pointing guns at them.

Seadrive - Well... I suppose the strap on binoculars could be used to choke someone. So, that really makes straps the hazardous material.