Man pulled gun at church AA meeting, charged with assault

thanks I posted this on my blogs

If you go to a rough bar you can expect to meet some rough criminals - that was my experience! However I was so trusting of people in the rooms at first because I expected everyone to be like the love bombers and the god believers. There were many decent people in AA but by the nature of the problem, it also has some real scum within it's ranks who can exploit the annonymous and unregulated nature of the meetings. Many people are too trusting when they join and AA members are so desperate to recruit you and keep you coming back that they tend not to point out the fact that anyone can come to those meetings if they want and listen to what is being said. I used to go to beginners meeting where the secretary was a crazy ex gangster. He came into a meeting cut to pieces one night and went crazy in front of everyone. There were two fairly young girls sitting there at their first meeting and it scared them really badly. I have no idea what they did after that but I never saw them in any kind of meeting after that. To be honest it shook me and I was in my forties and am well over six feet tall and have seen the seedy side of life, but those women did not need to see that, and they were vulnerable at the time. This sort of thing can happen at a meeting which attracts people from all kinds of backgrounds. Sometimes it's best to look at the differences - we are not all the same suffering from the same problem!

I wonder which troll will come out with "it did not happen at my meeting","the gangster needs a lawyer because you are being rude about him", "you are angry and negative" , " what about the people AA has helped" , " I find God helps me" " it is not AA that is the problem" etc etc

Mr. Ortgiesen was correct in trying to curb the drug activity at AA. The pharamaceutical rep should have been at an NA meeting.

Mr. Ortgiesen is just a dry drunk.

What I have noticed many times is that even if something happens in a NA meeting- they still call an AA meeting. It is like a universal code for 12 step meetings. But this very well could have been either or.
It does not really make much difference, except it lets NA off the hook in some peoples mind.

The truth is both AA/NA have a dangerous element to them. Plus you can have a druggie get busted for a DWI, and the judge says they have to go to an AA meeting. The druggie does not want to expose themselves that they do drugs to the courts, so they go to AA meeting as required.

.... "That doesn't happen in my meetings"...lol

There needs to be proper sessions available for people who could be dangerous. They need reeducation and a lot of support to turn their lives round and sometimes they will not manage to do this. The homeless have many issues that need to be dealt with such as being found accommodation and helped back into normal society if that is going to be possible. It is obvious that somebody with no money and some form of addiction will cause others problems. I would have no problem going to some form of supervised meeting where people who have very recently been convicted were present but the fact that 12 step meetings have supposed annonimity makes them unsuitable places for anyone who is potentially dangerous. Certain changes have taken place in society since he 1930's and they are not for the best yet the 12step meetings have not made enough in the way of changes to cope with this. You are not sitting in a room full of men over 40 who have had a lifetime of hard drinking behind them . The profile of a modern AA meeting is very different particularly because you now have young women there as well as young men who have problems with cocaine, crack and heroin. When you walk into a 12 step room you are not aware fully as who is going to be there. I was more cautious than many because I was travelling a lot and so went to a wide range but many were not.

I don't see how we could solve this problem.