Suspended LTC in MA for a suicide threat

Ruger19

New Member
This will be a long post but please bear me with. Could really use some help.

- 23 years old, usmc veteran
- live in MA
- currently in college for business with the Post 9/11 GI Bill

I was in a long distance relationship with someone very unloyal , and while I was very drunk one night I kind of blew up and had told her I was going to commit suicide after she was telling me how she was with her ex boyfriend.

The next day I woke up, talked to a few friends about it and cleared my head for the most part. It was a very rough night, but for the rest of the day we didn't talk. I went to the gym, came home and at about 11pm the police show up at my house for a wellness check (my ex-gf had called the police "worried" about me). I told them the story and afterwards they were asking where my guns were and asked me if i had any past history of mental illnesses. The report says "Officer ___ asked ___ if he had reached out for any treatment. ___ stated he had but he doesnt open up so they dont work" Probably the worst thing I could have said in my case. What I was referring to was over a year ago when i went for social anxiety. I was in no way shape or form depressed before, during or after the police showed up. What I said was purely out of hurt and emotion.

They ended up forcing me to go to the hospital to get an evaluation. What they told me was that I had a choice to either go to the hospital on my own free will and if everything checked out okay I could leave after I see the doctor OR they would force me to go and "section me", meaning I would be forced to stay for 3 business days. Mind you that this happened on a saturday night, so I would have been held there for a total of 5 days. Of course I told them I'd go on my own free will knowing that I wouldn't actually kill myself and I wasn't depressed. Then they started asking where my guns were. At this point I knew the direction things were going were terrible. We ended up going into my apartment, I showed them where they all were, even unlocked one of the safes for them. I was very cooperative but at the same time knew what they were doing and I did not like it at all. I asked them and expressed my concern that I did not want this to "follow me" and asking if everyhting checked out okay, I would get all my stuff back. They assured me that I would and it wouldn't follow me. Both of which were lies.

I got to the hospital at about 12:30am. At about 1:30am they brought me into, basically, the loony bin. With white walls and nothing but a cold hard bed in a small room with two other patients that were doing nothing but screaming at eachother and crying. Barely got any sleep and finally at 3am they brought one doctor in but it was the wrong one because my insurance wouldnt have covered it. So I ended up having to wait until 1pm to see another doctor (psychiatrict, therapist whoever it was). I talked to him for all of 20 maybe 30 minutes. He came back within 20 minutes and told me I would be released and within 15 minutes of that I was leaving the hospital.

I tried getting a hold of my police station a few times about my LTC and firearms with no luck. A week later I get a voice mail from an officer asking me to call back "regarding my LTC". I called back to find out they mailed a letter which was stating they suspended my license indefinitely and I could appeal it in court and would have to transfer my weapons to someone else with an LTC in the meantime.

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Thank u so much if you have read up until this point. Okay, so I understand where the police are coming from but it is not at all who I am. It was out of pure emotion and being hurt, with alot of alcohol in the mix. I'm not exactly sure where to turn to now. The punishment seems very extreme for something I said out of pure emotion. And the thing I said about getting previous help is definitely going to hurt me in the hearing.

What should I say in trial?
Should I hire an attorney/lawyer?
Do they do most of the talking for me?
How expensive are they?
What documents or proof should I bring to help back up my situation?
Is it possible that the police could show my text messages/call logs in court?

A few things that I would say could help me out. What do you think?
- Doctors released me quickly after talking to me
- I was cooperative while the police were there
- The punishment is very extreme considering I am not suicidal or depressed
----not sure how to prove this except (good diet, good sleep, working out daily, strong family/friends)
- Im focused on college
- Very into working out, with a good diet and sleep
- I could schedule appointments again with a therapist to learn how to deal with stressful situations
- I have held teaching lessons for my parents and my mothers friend to teach them gun safety,etc.
- I will be treasurer of the veterans club in the fall
 
Your best bet would be transfer them into someone else name. Let them KEEP them until you go thru a treatment plan. You NEED to talk with someone...... Then once your done with a treatment program apply to get your LTC permit back. Good luck and I pray that you will find a treatment place that you will open up with.
 
You got hosed by those police officers.
You need to understand that as you describe it, and surely as the officers will describe it, you did everything voluntarily. You were not forced to go to the hospital or to turn over your weapons.
As you describe it, it is very unlikely the police could have forced you to go against your will. You could have simply asked them nicely to get the heck out of your house. Had you not given them access to your weapons they could not have taken them.
I would schedule the appeal hearing and argue the police tactics to coerce you to go to the hospital when you did not want to. Unfortunately this is a common tactic to get people to go "voluntarily".
Even if the police take you against your will it is the doctor, not the police, who decides whether to hold you there or release you.
If you feel the officers mistreated you or coerced you in any way you could make a WRITTEN complaint to their department.
Legal counsel will be helpful if you can afford it, but don't let the cost deter you from standing up for yourself.
The fact that you went voluntarily and you were not involuntarily committed will likely get you your weapons and license back. It is typically the involuntary variety that leads to this mess.
 
Not kidding at all. To involuntarily commit someone it typically requires circumstances where the person is unable to care for themselves or the safety of others. As described here the officers likely did not have enough to legally force the mental health evaluation.
Having earlier made a suicidal comment is not sufficient. What matters is the person's CURRENT state of mind.
 
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