Whether they be police, firefighters, child welfare workers, clinical social workers or psychiatrists, there are at times life threatening risks which these people and other caregiving professionals may confront. Such is the tragic story of mental health social worker, Theresa Hunt (age 53), and psychiatrist Lee Silverman (age 52) who were both shot by a mentally disturbed outpatient who arrived for his therapeutic session with a loaded gun. Ms. Hunt died immediately from the gunshot and Dr. Silverman sustained minor wounds after defending himself and other potentially threatened staff by shooting back with his own gun (and killing) the attacking patient. Such incidents, though quite rare, create a physical and emotional context of danger and threat for certain categories of caregivers and beg these questions: what measures of physical protection or security need to be in place to protect staff and reduce such risks? How can our gun oriented US culture end access of guns to people with threatening mental health backgrounds? You may read the article at: http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODE/PhiladelphiaInquirer/LandingPage/LandingPage.aspx?href=UEhRUC8yMDE0LzA3LzI2&pageno=MQ..&entity=QXIwMDEwMg..&view=ZW50aXR5