Forced revocation of CHL

[faraman84]

Hi all, new to this forum but was hoping you could help me out.

My father has been battling severe depression and substance abuse (I just finished cleaning up his vomit off my sofa). He also has a handgun and a CHL. To be frank, I don't want him to possess the CHL and handgun anymore and am afraid he will hurt himself due to his depression and substance problem. What legal remedies exist for someone in my position?

Thanks in advance, and for the record we are pursuing psychological and neurological help at the moment, but I want to tie up this loose end before opening that door because I'm worried of how he will react.

[CoffeeNut]

Hi all, new to this forum but was hoping you could help me out.

My father has been battling severe depression and substance abuse (I just finished cleaning up his vomit and piss from my sofa). He also has a handgun and a CHL. To be frank, I don't want him to possess the CHL and handgun anymore and am afraid he will hurt himself due to his depression and substance problem. What legal remedies exist for someone in my position?

Thanks in advance, and for the record we are pursuing psychological and neurological help at the moment, but I want to tie up this loose end before opening that door because I'm worried of how he will react.

Have you tried to get a conservatorship over your father? I'm sure there are other legal options that a lawyer could point you to.

As a conservator I belive you would control the persons daily life and finances and therefore you could most likely seize the weapon and CHL however I am not a lawyer.

If he's made statements about self-harm or harming others I'd recommend that you dial 911.

[Javier730]

Not sure what you can do legally, but I do know that if someone is determined to hurt themselves, the absence of a firearm will do little to prevent it. Hope you guys get past this soon. Good luck.

[faraman84]

Great suggestion CoffeeNut! Now that you put it in my head I'm researching conservatorship/guardianship laws.

Also, very valid Javier730. My dad was a military man so his lifelong relationship with handguns makes me most concerned about that method.

[CoffeeNut]

No problem! I hope everything works out for the best.

[Teamless]

also remember, the removal of a CHL does not necessarily remove the guns. and if you are able to remove the guns, what is to stop him from buying more?

[ELB]

Sounds like you need legal advice. Lawyer time. Sorry you have to go through this. Good luck.

[drjoker]

Don't do it legally because when he gets better, that will still be stuck to him and he'll have to spend lots of money on lawyers to get it expunged or he won't be able to buy guns nor have a CHL permanently. Just take all his guns and lock them up away from him. Do not give him the keys to his guns until he is better. It is better to take care of stuff like this privately.

Human beings were taking care of each other long before there were governments.

You tell him you love him and then confiscate his CHL, guns, and ammo.

No need to worry about him buying more guns. Suicidal people kill themselves with guns out of convenience. If someone has to drive to the store and fill out paperwork for a background check to kill themselves, then they won't kill themselves. This is a known fact amongst psychiatrists and psychologists. When they banned gas ovens, the suicide rate went down. People did NOT find alternate ways to kill themselves.

I've confiscated guns from a close friend before. No, he did not buy any new guns afterwards.

Hi all, new to this forum but was hoping you could help me out.

My father has been battling severe depression and substance abuse (I just finished cleaning up his vomit off my sofa). He also has a handgun and a CHL. To be frank, I don't want him to possess the CHL and handgun anymore and am afraid he will hurt himself due to his depression and substance problem. What legal remedies exist for someone in my position?

Thanks in advance, and for the record we are pursuing psychological and neurological help at the moment, but I want to tie up this loose end before opening that door because I'm worried of how he will react.

[Jumping Frog]

Don't do it legally because when he gets better, that will still be stuck to him and he'll have to spend lots of money on lawyers to get it expunged or he won't be able to buy guns nor have a CHL permanently. Just take all his guns and lock them up away from him. Do not give him the keys to his guns until he is better. It is better to take care of stuff like this privately.

Human beings were taking care of each other long before there were governments.

You tell him you love him and then confiscate his CHL, guns, and ammo.

This is good advice. Besides "government paper" isn't going to stop him from killing himself anyway if he does decide to go down that road. He'll either get a gun illegally or he'll find a different means.

Glad you mentioned you are pursuing medical help. That is also important. FWIW, a voluntary admission for treatment is far preferable to a court-mandated one as far as the future goes.

[ELB]

I am highly sympathetic to having as little government involvement as possible and not establishing any documentation that I don't have to, but it also appears to me that simply taking someone's guns is theft. If he is far gone enough that he doesn't notice, or if it is so obvious that he is a threat to himself or others that if he contacts the authorities about the "theft" it might not be an issue.

However, there are a lot of people with depression and other ills that are not obvious to outsiders, and while the person may not be on top of his game, he is not psychotic and he knows what's going on. Mix in a possibly deteriorating emotional connection to his family and a touch of paranoia, and taking his guns without actually having any legal right to do so may cause trouble if he chooses to report the "confiscation" as a theft. You might sort it out with the authorities in the long run, but if he initially comes across as sane and only unhappy, and you are standing there with all his guns and no legal basis to possess them, then it will be awkward at the least. (Maybe if his wife handed them to you, it might go better, but you didn't mention whether his wife is in the pictures, so I am assuming you are dealing with him only.)

If you think he is on the edge, do whatever you need to do now to protect his life, but short of that, get to a laywer.

A lawyer can advise as to the not only how to legally help your dad, but protect yourself. It might not involve calling the authorities about his CHL. Maybe your dad knows he is in enough trouble that he will legally assign some protector role to you, like Coffeenut suggested. Call the Texas legal bar and see if there are lawyers with experience in family mental health issues.

Again, good luck.

[drjoker]

You're over thinking this.

This is how it went down between me and my friend. This was in college. It was my roommate. I said, "Hey J***, you know as depressed as you are, I think it'll be best if I lock up your SKS for a bit."

(no answer)

I get the gun from his closet and walked it to my room where I take out the bolt and put it underneath my socks. I then put the gun in my closet.

ELB, normal people like you may object to gun confiscation by a close friend or family member, but extremely depressed people lack the drive to object to anything. My friend J** didn't even want to get out of bed, take a shower, or eat. He was too unmotivated to walk down the hall into the kitchen to get something to eat. He literally lived off of delivery pizza that I bought for him and warm beer that he had under his bed.

It is not theft if they know you did it and did not object.

I am highly sympathetic to having as little government involvement as possible and not establishing any documentation that I don't have to, but it also appears to me that simply taking someone's guns is theft. If he is far gone enough that he doesn't notice, or if it is so obvious that he is a threat to himself or others that if he contacts the authorities about the "theft" it might not be an issue.

However, there are a lot of people with depression and other ills that are not obvious to outsiders, and while the person may not be on top of his game, he is not psychotic and he knows what's going on. Mix in a possibly deteriorating emotional connection to his family and a touch of paranoia, and taking his guns without actually having any legal right to do so may cause trouble if he chooses to report the "confiscation" as a theft. You might sort it out with the authorities in the long run, but if he initially comes across as sane and only unhappy, and you are standing there with all his guns and no legal basis to possess them, then it will be awkward at the least. (Maybe if his wife handed them to you, it might go better, but you didn't mention whether his wife is in the pictures, so I am assuming you are dealing with him only.)

If you think he is on the edge, do whatever you need to do now to protect his life, but short of that, get to a laywer.

A lawyer can advise as to the not only how to legally help your dad, but protect yourself. It might not involve calling the authorities about his CHL. Maybe your dad knows he is in enough trouble that he will legally assign some protector role to you, like Coffeenut suggested. Call the Texas legal bar and see if there are lawyers with experience in family mental health issues.

Again, good luck.