As a Veteran, "Do You Feel Stressed?"

Seems like an innocuous enough question in these uncertain economic times. If you are unemployed or ill, there's a chance you might feel even more stress than you might consider to be normal.

So, imagine you are a veteran, seeking some kind of medical treatment or a check up, and the VA asks you three questions:

1. Do you feel stressed?
2. Do you feel threatened?
3. Do you feel like doing harm to someone?

Wait! What??? Do I feel like what? Why would anyone believe that these questions need to be asked of every veteran? Is this akin to putting them on a watch list, along with Tea Party members and anti-abortion protesters? Apparently so, because if you answered "Yes" to any of those questions, you could lose your Second Amendment rights.

One veteran, a Vietnam Vet and retired Police Officer according to Veterans Today:

The nurse then informed me, that if I had answered ‘yes’ to any of the questions, I would have lost my concealed carry permit as it would have gone into my medical records and the VA would have reported it to Homeland Security.

Question three? Maybe! Although it is possible to feel like doing something to someone without ever acting on it.

Question two? Threatened by unemployment, a poor housing market, foreclosure...is the implication that a veteran who feels "threatened" is a greater danger to the Republic or himself than anyone else?

But, question one is off the charts. Everyone feels stress at one point or another, to one extent or another. Stress can get you out of bed in the morning. Stress may make you study a little harder for an exam or a promotion. Going to a VA hospital might cause you stress. Being ill and having to go to a VA hospital might cause even more stress. To say that a "yes" answer on this question is sufficient to deprive you of your Constitutional rights under the Second Amendment, just because you might be more proficient in the use of that firearm than your next door neighbor, is gun control under another name.


This is a very disturbing report, if corroborated. And yet, not at all inconsistent with the oxymoronic "Obama Justice" department. It is a good thing to look out for the mental health of veterans. It should not, however, necessitate the need to Mirandize them before they receive medical attention.

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