By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Picture this: Your grandfather or father, a favorite uncle perhaps, has spent a lifetime with firearms, as a hunter, competitor or merely a collector, but now, the years are beginning to take their toll and early signs of dementia are beginning to appear.
Like it or not, you may be stuck with the responsibility of handling an often-sticky and emotional subject: What to do with that person’s firearms?
A project is underway in Colorado to help find some solutions. Dr. Emmy Betz, a professor with the Department of Emergency Medicine and director of the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative at the University of Colorado School of Medicine is co-founder of the Colorado Firearms Safety Coalition. In an interview with TGM, she provided some details on the project that is, in her words, “looking at supporting dementia caregivers.”
This could be family members or some other person taking on the role of providing care to a person suffering from dementia. If you’ve never known anyone afflicted with this affliction, consider yourself fortunate.
“We are doing a study,” Betz explained via telephone, “looking at a tool to help caregivers decide what to do.”
The project is aimed at helping family members and/or caregivers to make such decisions, which might include passing firearms on to family members, or possibly donating guns—especially any with historical value—to existing collections, or even selling them.
“We don’t tell people what to do,” Betz explained. “We lay out some options.”
The program is currently trying to recruit dementia caregivers and they are reaching out to such people all over the country, not just in Colorado. Participation is voluntary and participants are compensated for their time. She is hoping to finish the recruitment process sometime this fall.
“We have 180 participants so far, but we’re trying to get 500 people and everything is done online,” Betz said.
The project is called “Safe at Home,” and Betz supplied some information detailed here:
- Safe at Home is an online educational resource to help caregivers of persons with dementia maximize safety in the home. A team at the University of Colorado worked with stakeholders to develop Safe at Home, and we are now studying its effectiveness.
- The Safe at Home resource was developed through a series of interactive, participant-driven interviews with stakeholders from a number of different fields, including psychiatry, gerontology, public health, and more. Caregivers of those with dementia, assisted living organizers, caregiver organization members, firearm owners, and numerous other groups were also heavily involved in the creation and refinement.
- While this resource was created for use primarily by caregivers, we hope that this resource can assist in clarifying some of the many concerns, issues, or fears that caregivers might have. Having knowledge, connections, and support can guide caregivers towards a safer, healthier home in the future.
“Safe at Home” is just one tool. Another suggestion is for gun owners to have a “Firearm Life Plan.” This is intended for adults and their families prior to the onset of severe dementia.
Information provided by Betz notes, “The population of community-dwelling people with dementia is growing in the United States. About 5.8 million Americans – roughly 10% of all adults aged 65 years or older – are living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
“An estimated 33-60% of people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias have a firearm in the home, and 38% of their caregivers identify firearms as an issue to address,” the material noted.
“Caring for someone with dementia can be hard,” the project acknowledges. “There are physical, emotional, financial, and life-style changes to face. Making a plan about what to do about firearms in the home can be difficult. In collaboration with caregivers, dementia and firearm organizations, and other experts, the Safe at Home team developed a free online educational resource to help caregivers of persons living with dementia. This resource can help caregivers clarify values and make decisions about firearms access, driving, or take steps to improve safety at home, and then commit to implementing their preferred option.”
But what about the actual disposition of firearms, some of which may be very valuable? TGM reached out to Dwight Van Brunt, operator of Sportsman’s Legacy in Kalispell, Mont. His advice is straightforward, and it covers the bases of giving guns to family members and possibly selling other firearms.
“The ideal circumstance is that everyone plans before the need,” he said. “You should have a plan that includes an inventory list of all firearms and what you believe is the current market value.”
A complete inventory, he indicated, can help assure all firearms in someone’s collection are accounted for. There have been instances where some guns in a collection ultimately cannot be accounted for. Possibly a family member just takes them.
Next, decide if any firearms are going to individuals, and which firearms might ultimately be sold. In the inventory, include a history of the firearm if possible (i.e., what it may have been used for, such as whether it was used on any hunting treks, what game was shot with it, etc.) and then go back at least once each year to readjust the estimated value. One good source to help with this, he said, is the Blue Book of Gun Values.
One can also decide whether a firearm or several guns are given to an organization for their use.
Van Brunt works with people on a daily basis regarding disposition of gun collections, and he admits this is a highly specialized field of endeavor.
There is usually a “triggering event” for this process to begin, whether someone is placed in assisted living, or moved to a nursing home, he said. However, it might also be linked with a diagnosis of dementia, at which time planning for firearm dispersal probably should begin.
The “Safe at Home” project is geared toward helping dementia caregivers and/or family members help in making decisions.
For more information on the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative, click on this link.
