Who would expect that a routine visit to your family pediatrician would end up with the good Doctor telling you to go elsewhere for your care? That’s what happened to Tom and Amber Ullman when they brought their third child, a four month old infant in for a routine checkup.
Now the state of Florida has a bill, Senate 432: Privacy of Firearms Owners, introduced by state Senator Greg Evers, scheduled to be heard in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday, February 22 at 9:00 a.m. This bill would stop anti-gun doctors from asking children and parents if they own guns and then telling them to get rid of their guns. It further stops doctors from denying care to children if the parents refuse to answer questions about gun ownership. There have been stories, like the Ullman’s, about office staff entering the answers to the gun ownership questions into the electronic medical record. Now some may argue that medical records are protected under HIPPA but didn’t you sign an authorization to share your information with your insurance company. Your records can also be shared “to protect the public health.”
A quick look at the American Academy of Pediatrics’ website clearly shows their agenda.
On this page “Handguns in the home” They cite a number of statistics with no reference other than their own materials which in turn have no citation. For instance:
“Every two hours, someone’s child is killed with a gun, either in a homicide, a suicide, or as a result of an unintentional injury.” – no citation and no definition of who is a “child” some of these studies have defined “children” up to age 24, and these statistics have also included criminals and gangbangers who were killed by the police or other gangbangers.
“Major urban trauma centers are reporting an increase of 300 percent in the number of children treated for gunshot wounds; in fact, one in every twenty-five admissions to pediatric trauma centers in the United States is due to gunshot wounds.” – again no citations for either figure or real numbers for that “300 percent increase”
“Parents should realize that a gun in the home is forty-three times more likely to be used to kill a friend or family member than a burglar or other criminal.” – no citation but probably came from one flawed study. Source: info http://gunfacts.info/pdfs/gun-facts/5.1/gun-facts-5.1-screen.pdf. pg 26
“ To compound this problem, depressed preteenagers and teenagers commit suicide with guns more frequently than by any other means.” – true if you search for ages 0-19 but more like 1/3 in ages 0-15, depends on how you define “child.” Source: WISQARS
“A Center to Prevent Handgun Violence survey estimated that about 135,000 students carried handguns to school each day, and another 270,000 brought handguns to school at least once; that figure may be even higher today.” – no mention of where, when or how this “study” was conducted. A quick check of how many schools are in the us gives us the number as 124,100, are we to believe that there is at least one gun in every school?
Here are some more quotes from the above mentioned page and two of their other pages:
Where We Stand: Gun Safety and Gun Safety: Keeping Children Safe That clearly show their anti-civil rights agenda, and they want us to give them our gun information. Are we supposed to trust them to keep that information private?
“The best preventive measure against firearm injuries and deaths is not to own a gun.”
“The most effective way to prevent firearm-related injury to children is to keep guns out of homes and communities”
“The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly supports gun-control legislation.”
“We believe that handguns, deadly air guns, and assault weapons should be banned.”
“Until handguns are banned”
So I think I would take medical advice from my doctor and not tell him or her if I do or do not keep guns in my home.
More links:
http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/gun-shots/2011/02/guns-and-doctors
I will take my firearm advice from the real experts on the subject.
Like the NRA and their Eddie Eagle program. Now the anti-gunners might like sticking their heads in the sand and imagining we live in a perfect gun-free utopia but that isn’t going to cut it. Even if they do not own guns themselves their neighbors do out in that cold cruel world. It seems that it would make sense to educate their children rather than remain in denial, it might really be safer that way.
For those who want to provide home protection with a firearm and have little ones at home there are some excellent resources out there. You can get more solid and realistic advice that you can get on the AAP website here at Safeshot Ltd.
Not all doctors are anti-gun either there’s Dr Timothy Wheeler of Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership who co-authored the book “ Keeping your Family Safe: the Responsibilities of Firearm Ownership.”
Then there’s my all time favorite website for women who shoot and especially moms (she raised 5 boys) The Cornered Cat, run by Kathy Jackson. Who offers some really sound advice for keeping kids safe around guns. She too has a great book out called “The Cornered Cat: a Woman’s guide to Concealed Carry.”
If you feel strongly about this invasion of privacy and you live in Florida you can email your State Senators at these addresses:
evers.greg.web@flsenate.gov,
dean.charles.web@flsenate.gov,
dockery.paula.web@flsenate.gov,
margolis.gwen.web@flsenate.gov,
smith.chris.web@flsenate.gov
And ask them to SupportSB 432 and Stop Doctors from Violating Gun Privacy Rights.
Now isn’t that just Common Sense?
