TexasCHLforum.com

srothstein wrote:Frankie,

If the whole campus is a mental institution, I think you are overreacting in this case. It is fairly normal to see a no guns policy on the campus of a mental institution (say the Texas State School systems) such as this. One of the very realistic reasons for this is that there are known mentally ill people in the vicinity.

The incident in question seems to have happened at the Zambarano Unit of the Eleanor Slater Hospital. They do take:

Geriatric patients with chronic medical and psychiatric conditions who are unable to be cared for in the community
Adults with complex behavioral and rehabilitative needs requiring adaptive equipment to maximize quality of life

As far as I can tell it is not a dedicated mental hospital; I think why Frankie mentioned that is because it is run by the RI Department of Mental Health, Retardation, and Hospitals. The description seems to be of a long-term care and rehabilitation facility--it is basically a nursing home. That type of facility needs to have the capability to deal with patients with concomitant mental illness because they develop medical problems as much as anyone else.

Nobody is saying that the guard has to work for the hospital, although it may be he has to choose between working for them and not being able to pay the rent and buy food. We're just saying it is stupid of the administrators to hire someone for security of the building, employees, and patients and then not allow them the tools they need to carry out that task and protect their life in the process. Do you think the hospital would compensate the guard's family if he got stabbed to death because he followed the hospital's rule and didn't have a gun?

Personally, I think these problems could be avoided if the hospital looked outside its population of mental patients when hiring administrators.