Readers say Abby advice misfired

DEAR ABBY: The letter you printed from "Gun-Shy in South Carolina," about the antics of her gun-toting alcoholic father-in-law, caught my attention. I'm a former mental-health clinician.

"Grandpa" has probably already violated a municipal ordinance regarding discharging a firearm in corporate limits. A psychiatrist friend advised that, according to the local interpretation of mental-health statutes, Grandpa might be eligible for involuntary commitment and evaluation in a psychiatric facility. He could be disarmed by the police, if necessary.

"Gun-Shy" should heed her motherly instincts, stay home and refuse to visit Grandpa until he enters treatment. Otherwise there's a high probability that she will mourn the loss of one or more dead children.

- Responsible Gun Owner in Pa.

DEAR RESPONSIBLE: I agree. Some readers felt I should have been tougher in my response, and that Gun-Shy and her children should not visit Grandpa at all. Failure to act on her fears is called child endangerment and could result in the children being taken away. Readers let me have it with both barrels:

DEAR ABBY: As a vet and former law-enforcement officer, I think the whole family is in "wimp" mode. For adults to watch a drunk adult fire a gun in the air around his family and not call 9-1-1 was ignorant and dangerous. That jerk should have been arrested!

- Smokey in Florida

DEAR ABBY: Thank you for reminding your readers that when someone shoots a gun into the air, the bullet comes down somewhere. A child near my hometown died last New Year's Eve when she stepped outside with her grandmother to watch the fireworks and a bullet fell to earth and lodged in her brain. The police believe the gun may have been fired from a few miles away. - Christina in Maryland