Thursday, June 09, 2011

Florida law prohibiting doctors from asking gun questions brings lawsuit


A bill banning Florida physicians from asking patients about gun ownership, signed into law last week by Governor Rick Scott (R), has brought out more than the typical hue and cry from the anti-self defense crowd. On Monday, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, along with the Florida chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American College of Physicians, filed a lawsuit seeking to throw out the new law. While claiming the new law violates doctors’ First Amendment rights, the lawsuit hardly conceals its bias against gun rights. “By severely restricting such speech and the ability of physicians to practice such preventative medicine, the Florida statute could result in grievous harm to children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly,” according to the motion filed Monday in federal court in Miami. No mention is ever made, of course, of the “grievous harm” that is prevented because of lawful gun ownership. In fact, a wide range of studies show that self-defense uses of firearms dramatically outweigh accidents and the criminal misuse of guns. Doctors who discourage gun ownership actually make people less safe and more vulnerable to criminal attack. Furthermore, contrary to the Brady Center’s misinformation campaign, the new law does allow for doctors to discuss firearms ownership if relevant to a patient’s medical care or safety. “There’s nothing in the bill that would prevent a safety discussion about firearms like medical personnel would for swimming pools, chemicals or any other potential hazard,” said state Rep. Jason Brodeur, the bill’s sponsor. “The bill only states that medical personnel can’t ask about firearm ownership directly, record the answer or condition treatment upon the response.” Besides questions about gun ownership being inappropriate and none of a doctor’s business—and besides the fact that most doctor organizations are vehemently anti-Second Amendment—there are serious questions about how such information could be abused...more

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