LONG story made ... short
... My sister was in a hospital on life support after a car accident. I was on a motorcycle tour to the west coast when I got the news, so I diverted my route to the hospital.
As I often do, I was traveling with my Glock 27, which rests beside me at night in motel rooms and campsites where some meth head might invade my camp for whatever reason. I was ALSO carrying some very valuable collectibles in a shoulder bag with the intent to sell them to a collector in California, because I was NOT going to leave them in a hotel room or in my motorcycle luggage. So I carried them with me at all times, in and out of the hospital.
So one of our lifelong friends came to the hospital, and during the visit, we were sitting outside of the "secure" intensive care section where my sister was behind locked doors in a bed hooked up to ... everything.
Side note: She was involved with a very shady business partner who I detested, and he had a RECORD of falsely presenting himself as a cop, a government agent, etc., to bypass security. I TOLD her he was a
con man, but she would not listen. I took photos of him to the hospital security and told them he was NOT to be allowed near my sister, and he had ZERO authority to make ANY decisions about her care.
He had already visited the first hospital she was taken to by Life Flight, walked in, flashed his (real, but FORMER) police badge and told them he was her Power of Attorney on all matters and HE made all the decisions about her care, and he wanted her taken off of life support immediately to be allowed to die peacefully. He is now a FELON, although he WAS once a cop, decades ago.
By Divine Intervention alone, my call to the hospital came at the right moment. I identified myself as her brother and next-of-kin, and demanded that they IGNORE any instructions given to them by this FELON. So they kept her ON life support until I arrived nine hours later. My I.D. proved my relationship to my sister, and his FAKE POA was immediately revoked.
My sister was flown to another hospital without his knowledge, and he went on an angry rampage to find her. Dropping in at every hospital between the California coast and Nevada and Arizona, he would demand to know if she was there, and threaten the hospital with certain government HELL unless they cooperated. Fortunately, I was faster and smarter than he was, so I remained a step ahead the whole time.
Security told me he HAD come to the hospital where she was. They told him they could not release ANY information on patients in their care. I told them he is ARMED AND DANGEROUS, and a FELON, and he wanted to shut off my sister's life support because he (temporarily) had access to her bank accounts and wanted to drain them of several hundred thousand dollars in assets. I stopped his access to all money through an attorney. I got the threatening texts, but he did not scare me. His texts helped me quickly gain the cooperation of local authorities.
I moved like The FLASH, from banks to hospitals to nursing homes via phones and faxes from the hotel lobby computers, staying ahead of him all the way. She is okay now, and married.
The POINT to this story is, in a waiting room, our mutual friend and I were sitting beneath a door entry security camera. It had a microphone. I made a comment ...
"This moron carries a gun and a fake badge, and he is dangerous! He would shoot ME, my sister and everyone in this place if he got the chance! I also have a loaded gun with me, but I would never bring it into the hospital because I obey the rules, and I don't want to risk losing my CCW...So there we sat in the cafeteria a brief while later, when an ARMY of hospital security guards walked in and surrounded us. These guys were clad in what I refer to as "Darth Vader costumes" ... black paneled armor, helmets with visors, etc., ARs, all sorts of commando toys velcro attached to their vests ... I just started laughing!
"Sir, we would like to have a word with you immediately. " My friend was in full panic. I told him,
"Relax. I know what this is about." Then I said,
"Can we go somewhere else to discuss this?" They would NOT let me move or get up.
"We have reason to believe you are carrying a loaded firearm and possible explosives on your person or in your bag. Please keep your hands where we can see them."I said,
"Guys, I have been walking in and out of this hospital for over a month now. My sister is in ICU. I ALWAYS carry this bag, because of the value of it’s confidential contents which cannot be left unattended. I KNOW that some well-meaning employee overheard our earlier conversation under the security camera about the fact that I brought a gun with me on this trip, but that moron ONLY told you they heard ‘I have a gun!’ He or she panicked, and there is no cause for alarm. If you BOTHER to listen to the ENITE conversation of the recording, you will understand…"They wanted to search my bag, but I refused, saying,
"I will allow the HEAD of your security department to learn the contents of this bag IN HIS PRIVATE OFFICE , but I am not about to spill it out onto a cafeteria table in front of all of these people! YOU cannot guarantee my safety OFF of the hospital grounds!"They held us there until someone in the office reviewed the FULL conversation they recorded. Then they realized I DID NOT and WOULD NOT bring a gun into the hospital. They called my Sheriff to check on my CCW. They apologized, and quietly exited the cafeteria. I did
not have to reveal the bag’s contents. Suffice it to say, the value exceeded $60,000.00
Red Flag Laws are about giving power to gun grabbing hoplophobes who FEAR GUNS, allowing them to have the guns taken away for no other reason than THEY are afraid of them. These are BAD LAWS that MUST be struck down.
If anyone shows up at my door under "Red Flag Laws"
nothing will happen until my attorney and I have had a good long talk!
