Whoever thought to do this at NRA deserves some credit for smart populism, getting people talking about the issue, and forcing their opponents to engage in a never-ending stream of elitism:
Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane. Half of the articles in Annals of Internal Medicine are pushing for gun control. Most upsetting, however, the medical community seems to have consulted NO ONE but themselves. https://t.co/oCR3uiLtS7
— NRA (@NRA) November 7, 2018
I think the controversy that has ensued sums up the debate nicely. I like things that work on many levels. As Glenn Reynolds notes: “The thing is, doctor’s ‘special insight’ into the gun issue is the not-exactly-genius-level observation that being shot is bad for you.“
I saw some people saying it was bad for them to attack doctors, because of the backlash.
I disagree, as you did. Its a great thing. Just because they have insight on how to fix gun shot words gives them no special insight into stopping the gun shots in the first place.
I routinely provide links to the AMA and APA’s published gun policy positions. They go to show that not only are the doctors not acting out of apolitical concern, they are injecting themselves into topics they know nothing about.
How on Earth does a doctor know an “assault weapon” ban, registration and/or capacity limits in any way alter how they treat gun shot wounds? What does fixing an injury do to give them special policy solutions and insight into how to prevent an injury caused by a mechanical object outside their control?
This is political posturing under the mantle of an appeal to authority. Doctor = Smart! Gun Owner = Death Supporter!
If your doctor starts with the “gun safety” lecture, pretend to be interested and ask him or more likely her to explain the 4 Rules. It will be entertaining.
It seems to me that this is analogous to an auto mechanic advocating for new traffic laws. It doesn’t matter how skilled of a mechanic you are, or even if you’re a collision specialist (equivalent to a trauma surgeon, I suppose). Knowing how to fix the damage doesn’t impart any special knowledge as to how we can reduce traffic accidents.
Doctors for gun-control well fits the paradigm of the Gun Control Movement. In the sense that the GCM is comprised of the Upper Class, run by the Upper Class and for the interest of the Upper Class, while pretending to be an exercise of altruism.
About the only better example than those anti-gun Doctors I think of off the top of my head, is Alyssa Milano and her obnoxious NoNRA group.
One thing that I wonder if the doctors who went on about it realized. When they said “the AR15 is Too Powerful A Gun!” did they realize that any hunter knows that it’s stereotypically chambered in about the weakest center fire rifle round, and that if that’s “too powerful” that means every hunting rifle is “too powerful.”
Their ignorance is so severe that they want laws that are already on the books. https://claytonecramer.blogspot.com/2018/11/doctors-on-guns.html
Physician, Heal Thyself,
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/study_suggests_medical_errors_now_third_leading_cause_of_death_in_the_us
“Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of Death in the U.S.”
“Analyzing medical death rate data over an eight-year period, Johns Hopkins patient safety experts have calculated that more than 250,000 deaths per year are due to medical error in the U.S.”