Sure, why not: Guns: Doctors' next big fight?

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“We must find ways of reversing the trend” of growing gun ownership and escalating violence, Kassirer wrote. “And as physicians, this task should be part of our professional responsibility .... Opposing the gun lobby's absolutist stance on regulation takes courage, persistence, and fortitude,” he wrote. But, he added, “It can be done.”


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[WhyteCheddar]

This begs the question, who is going to stand to protect all the people doctors kill every year?
Perhaps this is just to deflect attention from that.

 

[DMax]

Obammycare strikes again.

 

[Jamie6.5]

When I read the first paragraph from that article, I see irony, and disconnect.

For physicians and public health researchers, guns are not unlike cars, swimming pools, bicycles, alcohol and prescription drugs: They are a common cause of injury to their patients and to the population at large; but with knowledge, physicians and public health experts believe, that injury can be limited or mitigated.

Forgetting for just a moment the 2ndA and the FACT that only one of the items mentioned comes with a right to do so,...

Think about this:
Of the five things besides guns, how many are or have been heavily regulated?
Banned outright?
Require licenses for use?

Of the licensed/regulated:
Cars kill way more people than guns. Motorcycles more by percentage of use.
Think of the additional "safety regulations" imposed on cars in the last 30 years, yet if highway death statistices are any indication, they aren't much safer, just WAAYYYY more expensive.
Prescription drugs kill as many or more people, and ruin far more lives than guns, and doctors are a HUGE part of the regulatory system of them.
Alcohol was banned at one point and that made it worse, and despite restrictions on use currently, is #1 for lives either lost or ruined.

Then we come to the less, or non-regulated:
Bikes injure or kill way more kids and people in general than guns. Put them together with cars and you have an immediate disaster waiting to happen.
Backyard swimming pools kill upwards of 8 times as many kids as guns do.

The next time your doctor asks you about guns, tell him there is nothing you enjoy more than a brisk walk in the woods with your gun. Quote Jefferson if you must:

"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks." &#8212;Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, 1785

Furthermore, tell him if it weren't for hunting, you'd get far less exercise.
That'll make him think twice about telling you to give it up.

In the meantime, please remember what I have said all along about government run healthcare. For the elite advocates of statism, it is the "key to the kingdom" where gun control is concerned.
There are MANY aspects of taxation and gun control that go along with government run healthcare, and especially single payer.

 

[bolus]

From my point of view as a physician I have not seen any big surge from my colleagues on gun control. I dont think the office has even discussed the shooting once. Why? probably because we see stuff like alcohol, smoking, cheeseburgers, cars and a billion other things kill our patients more commonly than guns. Ban cigarettes if you want to make a dent in mortality statistics in this country.

Plus, physicians dont really have much of a say in anything anymore. Insurance companies, hospital administrators, and drug companies dictate what treatments patients get. We cant even direct how medicine is practiced in this country so I would not worry on any influence a few docs will have over gun control. We'd have about as much success as that MD in England trying to get steak knives banned back in 05.

Plus, dont think that groups like the AMA or American College of physicians the speak for us. Only about 25% of docs are a part of the AMA. They have never represented what I would want. Plus they try to trick me every month into signing up sending me a letter saying I'm overdue for paying dues even though I have never been a member. You really think Im that stupid?

 

[Mark W.]

I talk guns with my doctor all the time. Hes easily as crazy about shooting as I am.

 

[Boomerang]

"We must find ways of reversing the trend" of growing gun ownership and escalating violence

Wait, I thought gun ownership was growing and violent crimes were diminishing. Isn't that what the statistics say?

 

[BigDaddyDMD]

FPlus, dont think that groups like the AMA or American College of physicians the speak for us. Only about 25% of docs are a part of the AMA. They have never represented what I would want. Plus they try to trick me every month into signing up sending me a letter saying I'm overdue for paying dues even though I have never been a member. You really think Im that stupid?

As a fellow physician I completely agree with you on this. Do not let our professional organizations speak for all of us. It is akin to saying the NRA represents all gun owners, (that discussion is a whole different ball of wax). I have never felt any pressure to ask about weapons in the house, and even if I did I wouldn't do it. I discuss the joys of shooting with many of my patients. I love having veterans come in or guys I recognize from the range because we have something in common to discuss.

 

[PX4WA]

Most docs mind their own business... Some think it is their job to save the world however they see fit...

Just ignore them

 

[edogg]

Funny...I mentioned to my Dr that I like to shoot. He said he was recently at Wades' and that he had a blast renting their Uzi.

Sent from my PM23300 using Board Express

 

[deen_ad]

May be this is the answer? For now at least!!

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