According to one doctor, this becomes something more than you and your children. Listen carefully.
In the middle of a routine well-child visit, my 4-year-old patient started creating a ruckus in the exam room. Johnny systematically opened all the cabinets, pulled out any loose bits of paper he could find, and tore them up. He then got on the exam table, picked up my expensive ophthalmoscope, and almost took a dive to the floor before his dad stopped him.
Knowing that unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death among children, I used this opportunity to educate Johnny’s parents about safety at home.
Do you have your medicine cabinet locked? Are detergent bottles kept in the top shelf? Do you have working fire alarms? Do you have guns in your home?
While a routine part of well-child checkups, that last question has come under scrutiny lately. Why do I ask?
The data are clear: Gun violence is a public-health threat to children.
Now, it occurs to me that gun owners must consider what they might say when asked by their doctor about guns. I could say something like the following.
“Well doctor, I’ll answer your questions about guns, but first you must give me verbal and written agreement that you’ll also respond to my questionnaire, and that I can publish the data (if you refuse to answer any specific question the answer reverts to the default answer in the data bank). I have a web site with a page rank of 5, and after I publish your name and the Q&A session, I’ll own the Google search results on your name within 20 minutes of the page being indexed. Yes I own guns. Now for your questions. First, do you still sexually abuse your wife?”
But I don’t have to do that. I am good friends with my doctor, and I would respond (I’ll assume that his name is Michael), “Why yes, Michael, you know that I do. You’ve been shooting with me before. Why would you ask me? How much pressure is the new Obamacare paperwork putting on you, and how late do you stay up doing it? Is there something you need to tell me? Why are you being forgetful like this?”
But take note of the reasons for the doctor’s questions. Guns are a “public health concern.” Doctors have been trained to treat “social ills” for the collective. This mentality is alive and well among the totalitarians in the most recent attempt to encroach on firearms and related information.
Experts laid out a broad plan for firearms research on Wednesday, saying data is needed on who owns guns, where they keep them, how likely a gun is to be used to hurt someone else, whether having a gun keeps you safer, and whether there are ways to make guns any safer.
“There is no question that this is a public health issue,” says Dr. Alan Leshner, who chaired the Institute of Medicine panel that issued the report. “We have no political agenda.”
[ … ]
“Basic information about gun possession, acquisition, and storage is lacking. No single database captures the total number, locations, and types of firearms and firearm owners in the United States,” the report notes.
This work was commissioned by the totalitarian in chief, Mr. Obama himself. And of course they’re “experts.” And of course they want more information. And of course they want to know everything about all people who own firearms. And of course they intend to push so-called smart guns.
And if Mr. Obama cannot get the Senate to pass his gun legislation, maybe he can convince everyone that guns are a public health concern worthy of engagement by physicians who need to know everything about you and your guns. This is the argument du jour.
It’s just totalitarianism masquerading as public health, and there is no doubt that state universities all over America teach it to doctors and in MPH courses. There is nothing new under the sun.
