(from mhcd.org) There are four ways that social workers and other mental health professionals have been helping police officers/departments for a long time.  [Ed: Part 1 can be found here.] This article will explore two methods. Crisis Intervention Training (CIT)  Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training, developed in Memphis TN, provides a model of specialized law enforcement expertise. Volunteer officers, based in the general patrol division, work in cooperation with the mental h...

[Ed: Given the talk about replacing some functions of police with social work interventions, DRGO turned to our expert on the subject, Warren Lind, LCSW.] One of the many suggestions (or demands) coming out of the current political upheaval is to put more social workers in police departments.  In my long career in social work from 1971 to 2018, I was twice a police social worker.  This concept dates back to the early 1900’s.  Unfortunately, few of the nation’s 13,000 polic...

(from drgilete.com) [Ed: Dr. Wheeler originally published this at American Greatness July 20.] As a general surgery intern rotating through the university hospital neurosurgery service, I was immersed in learning all day and frequently all night. There was so much to learn, and my Socratic chief resident often reminded me, “that’s why the program is so long.” Six years after medical school for a neurosurgery residency, actually, and that’s not counting any additional subspecialty fellowsh...

(from-nbcconnecticut.com) We routinely castigate lousy research by prejudiced academics who make their careers publishing poorly designed, illogically interpreted studies claiming that guns are bad and that widely restricting their ownership will solve society’s problems. We get tired of it, like anyone would covering the same fake news over and over. So it is really refreshing to review the rare study that gets it right from start to finish. “Effect of firearms legislation on suicide and...

(from thelibertarianrepublic.com) [Ed: Dr. Petrocelli sent this letter, lightly edited for DRGO, to his Virginia state representatives last week. Keep visiting and writing to yours--personal contact is the most effective lobbying possible.] I am writing to you as your constituent this Friday to share two pieces of terrific news. Not only have your constituents bought guns in record numbers over the past several months, roughly 40% of those purchases went to first time gun owners. ...

The first quarter of 2020 was marked by the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic which has affected almost every aspect of our lives. The second quarter of 2020 has seen rising tensions over police brutality and the wider societal effects of racism. These issues have left few areas of American life without turmoil, and few Americans without stress. Second Amendment rights continue to face challenges, and 2020 has not left them free from attack. Misplaced Empathy Recent events have in...

(from parade.com) [Ed: This is excerpted from an article posted this July 4 on The Arbalest Quarrel, edited for DRGO.] . “Americans have the right and the advantage of being armed—unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." -- James Madison, Federalist 46. . . Dear Fellow Americans: As we celebrate Independence Day this July 4th we should think about the significance of the War that was fought 240 years ago against tyr...

(from whatsonafrica.com) The latest Lancet Psychiatry editorial mixes several poorly articulated ideas in a swing-and-a-miss effort to impugn American gun owners by suggesting that current gun purchases are fueled by cowardice in the face of economic adversity.  Given The Lancet’s other-than-the-United States focus, it isn’t surprising that it woefully mischaracterizes us.  “Home of the brave?” links economic hardship with gun purchases, and even resurrects Obama’s whopper foot...