The irrationality of the ban on doctors talking guns
Jon Stewart’s preamble is pitch perfect. “You know we all want our children to be safe from any infringement on their Second Amendment Rights,” Stewart said. “Luckily lawmakers in one state share that concern as Jordan Klepper reports.”
The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper examines the rational behind Florida Governor Rick Scott’s law banning doctors from asking patients about guns. Inasmuch as this seems like an obvious infringement of doctors’ First Amendment Right, this is a true story. In other words, the false interpretation of the Second Amendment trumps the First Amendment in our new world where Right Wing politicians are trying to secure our freedoms.
The Atlantic reported the story as follows.
The American Academy of Pediatrics likens counseling on gun safety to counseling on lead paint avoidance or seat belt use. Pediatricians, the group’s recent policy statement reads, are “urged to counsel parents about the dangers of allowing children and adolescents to have access to guns inside and outside the home.” Doctors are encouraged to promote trigger locks, lock boxes, and gun safes. Some distribute cable locks. The American College of Physicians is similarly proactive, calling gun violence a public health issue “requiring immediate attention.” The group, of which most practicing internal-medicine doctors are members, declared in its recent position statement: “Physicians must become more active in counseling patients about firearm safety.” The college implores doctors to open that conversation by asking patients (with and without children in their homes) about gun ownership.
As of two weeks ago, that is no longer legal in Florida. In a 2-1 vote, a U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a law called the Florida Privacy of Firearm Owners Act, ruling that doctors asking patients about firearms violates patients’ right to privacy.
Jordan Klepper using the ability of doctors to give pool safety advice and not gun safety advice illustrated the stupidity of the law. Most understand that the Second Amendment battle is just another business facade for gun-makers to maintain their lucrative and profitable supply chain. Unfortunately for the peons fighting this false Second Amendment Rights battle, it may exacerbate a paranoia that puts their own gun ownership in peril.