The Dems have pretty much locked the GOP out of state-wide offices. I don’t believe one is held by the Republicans. That’s going to burn us eventually, and it’s already largely started. Auditor General isn’t usually an office I worry about spewing gun control, but in this day in age, when everything is political and we all love ourselves some virtue signaling, I guess we have to worry. Points that DePasquale’s report makes that I have issues with:
- Encourage doctors sticking their nose into business they have no expertise in. If I’m suicidal, I can understand a doctor asking about things in the household I could use to potentially hurt myself or others. But most people are not suicidal, and if I’m not seeking mental health treatment it’s no business of any doctor whether or not I own a firearm.
- Pushes ballistic analysis which has proven in other states to be a useless waste of law enforcement resources.
- Encouraging Sheriffs to check on references. The problem is information related to applications is private, and sheriffs can’t reveal information about an application to anyone. So what can they really check?
A lot of these points he makes don’t sound all that objectionable. But if you read the fine print, a lot of it is useless feel-good crap.
“Doctors’ offices should provide free information on firearm safety to all patients.”
Really? What expertise do they have on this topic. Do they teach firearms safety in medical school? No. Keep them out of this. Doctors should only have a role in this if their patients start acting crazy.
“Suicide and domestic violence should also be addressed in firearms classes.”
Again, we’re getting away from expertise here. What do firearms instructors know about suicide and domestic violence prevention, other than telling people it’s a bad idea to let crazy or violent people have access to your guns? If you ask us to hand out bullshit propaganda from the medical establishment, the answer is going to be, “No!” The place to address this is at retail, if you’re going to involve the firearms community.
“It also encourages [dealers] to display and distribute suicide prevention materials. NHFSC developed these materials based on feedback from firearms retailers.”
That’s fine, as long as it’s good material and not anti-gun propaganda. At retail is where you’re likely to encounter someone looking to harm themselves. Someone looking to off themselves isn’t going to take a class. We don’t teach people how to use a gun for that purpose in a class.
The problem with a lot of DePasquale’s recommendations is no one involved in the gun issue trusts the medical establishment, and for good reason. They are virulently anti-gun. The AMA supports a whole slew of gun control measures, including gun bans. Bloomberg could have written that position paper. So if the question is will I acquiesce to getting medicine more involved in the gun issue, the answer is “Hell No!” They’ve picked their side, and they are the enemy.
Well I did see a copy of American Hunter in my periodontist’s office last week, so there’s that. I guess it’s not easy to eat wild game without healthy gums.
My dentist is a model practitioner. She has the Rifleman in her waiting room, I have run into her at gun school, and she wears 5-11s instead of scrubs.
When it comes to doctors and guns, I can’t help but think “Physician, heal thyself! Take the beam out of your eye before you try to remove the speck in the eyes of gun owners!”
With approximately 300,000 people dying from medical errors every year, you’d think that there’d be plenty of room for researching new procedures to reduce those medical errors! If they could just reduce their rate by 10%, it would save as many people per year as die by gun (of which, 2/3 are suicide, and almost 1/3 are homicide — the latter of which, and to a certain extent the former of which, is hard to see what doctors can do to prevent anyway…)
That’s the biggest issue with Doctors getting out of their lane. They have so much work to do to clean up their own industry, they should have no time to get involved in another industry they don’t have any expertise in.
Just like in the Soviet Bloc, and present-day Red China, the Left is weaponizing the Medical Community as “Secret Police” to impose their Agenda.
“Bloomberg could have written that position paper”…….Bloomberg (and the Democrat Party Billionaire Donor Class, entirely) DID write it, and his little lapdog poochie goosesteppers (like DePasquale) are just following their orders.
Amazing also how the NRA is just letting the Democrat Party Billionaire Donor Class control and dictate the narrative of the Gun Issue…….These Democrat Billionaires are well beyond beatable in the simplest fashions.
If anything, it’s going to make things worse, because it will make people who need help less likely to seek it. If you’re a gun owner, it’s not a conspiracy theory to think that the medical establishment is against you. They come right out and say it.
So you are struggling, but your shooting hobby is one of the areas where you get some relief, and it’s a right you cherish and believe in. Do you want to risk all of that by talking about it to a member of a group that can and will take it all away from you? In that case, maybe you figure it’s best to muddle through as best as you can, and not make things worse.
This is a huge worry. Despite Trump winning the state, we are turning blue. We have an influx of NYers and NJers, plus growth from Philly and Pittsburg to the suburbs.
I fear we will be the next New York State- the rural dominated by the suburban and urban.
Of course, it doesn’t help that the Republicans run terrible candidates. But we need a good strategy to keep our gun rights.
I think if one were feeling depressed the last person they would tell is their doctor for fear of the doctor turning them into the police (red flag law) and having the cops show up to confiscate their weapons.