I'm a gun guy and even I think this is bullshit!

[paulpablo]

This blows my mind on two levels.

1)  I don't get why guns are a medical issue.  In most instances I can't imagine why a doctor would ask about anyone's guns.  Guns are dangerous but doctors aren't there to give firearms advice.  Vehicles are dangerous but as far as I know but doctors don't question you randomly about your driving skills, what vehicle you drive and so on, generally.

2) I can think of a few instances in which a doctor might be curious about if a patient had guns or not, for example doctors sometimes ask you if you drive when they give you heavy medication that might prevent you driving.  In some cases they don't ask if you drive, they just say don't drive if you take this medication. 

This seems to me to be a problem that's just escalated and got out of hand maybe some doctors asked too many prying questions about guns that they shouldn't have then the backlash is a law that prevents any questions about guns.

I don't know for sure if that is the case but I've been asked questions about my religion and about my friends by a doctor before who suggested I go out and get rid of my old friends and try and find some Christian friends and organizations to help me when I went in there with a problem with an irregular heart beat.  It is possible for a doctor to use their position to give out opinions on things they shouldn't do so maybe this was the case in America with guns.
But anyway in conclusion I don't think doctors should be focused on asking prying questions about guns, on the other hand there's some situations where a doctor might be a bit curious about the persons gun ownership and should be allowed to ask.

[brewer]

OK, so the doctor asks whether there are any firearms in the house.  Then what?  
What does the doctor do about it?
What is the doctor supposed to do about it?  
What do you suppose the doctor can do about it?

Open a discussion regarding gun safety, especially if there are children around.

[Mr.wizard]

This blows my mind on two levels.

1)  I don't get why guns are a medical issue.  In most instances I can't imagine why a doctor would ask about anyone's guns.  Guns are dangerous but doctors aren't there to give firearms advice.  Vehicles are dangerous but as far as I know but doctors don't question you randomly about your driving skills, what vehicle you drive and so on, generally.

2) I can think of a few instances in which a doctor might be curious about if a patient had guns or not, for example doctors sometimes ask you if you drive when they give you heavy medication that might prevent you driving.  In some cases they don't ask if you drive, they just say don't drive if you take this medication. 

This seems to me to be a problem that's just escalated and got out of hand maybe some doctors asked too many prying questions about guns that they shouldn't have then the backlash is a law that prevents any questions about guns.

I don't know for sure if that is the case but I've been asked questions about my religion and about my friends by a doctor before who suggested I go out and get rid of my old friends and try and find some Christian friends and organizations to help me when I went in there with a problem with an irregular heart beat.  It is possible for a doctor to use their position to give out opinions on things they shouldn't do so maybe this was the case in America with guns.
But anyway in conclusion I don't think doctors should be focused on asking prying questions about guns, on the other hand there's some situations where a doctor might be a bit curious about the persons gun ownership and should be allowed to ask.

I think a doctor may ask you about operating a motor vehicle if he is an eye doctor or mental health professional. If the doctor is a mental health professional I think it should not only be legal to ask if the patient has any deadly weapons, but also ethical.

[Pat Mustard]

Everybody's innocent until they're not!

This is why the gun deaths will remain at crazy high levels.

This won't change unless your constitution changes from where I'm sitting.
Admittedly, naively.

To be honest its not even the law is the problem, its interpretation of the law by a bunch of fucks who didn't know what they were talking about, and got to the supreme court because they were good at sucking republitard dick.

Any sane reading of 2nd amendment will show it is not a free for all with respect of guns.

[abaris]

In Florida, physicians are restricted from asking patients, or the parents of patients, about gun ownership under threat of professional discipline or loss of license to practice. This law is just wrong.

Not saying, it wasn't perfectly idiotic - but why would this even be a topic in a doctor/patient conversation? I mean, unless they patient has some holes in his body that don't belong there.

[paulpablo]

In Florida, physicians are restricted from asking patients, or the parents of patients, about gun ownership under threat of professional discipline or loss of license to practice. This law is just wrong.

Not saying, it wasn't perfectly idiotic - but why would this even be a topic in a doctor/patient conversation? I mean, unless they patient has some holes in his body that don't belong there.

This is basically along the same lines as what I was thinking, I don't see why it should be against the law for a doctor to ask but I don't understand why a physician would ask.

[The Grand Nudger]

Any sane reading of 2nd amendment will show it is not a free for all with respect of guns.

.....we don't have a free-for-all policy with respect to guns, in this country. There are mountains of laws and restrictions, all of which have passed the constitutional challenge. All of which should be, but aren't, enforced to their fullest extent....largely because of a fictitious "free for all" narrative found nowhere in our laws or in our situations in reality, that has nevertheless taken root in our national psyche and even in the way that others perceive us and our laws.

People talk, today, about banning or restricting assault rifles, for example...when that was done in the 30's and has been upheld easily ever since. It's almost as if both sides of that debate have no fucking clue what they're talking about, and no one notices.

[Whateverist]

In this country, if you're deemed to be a danger to yourself, you may lose your belt and shoe laces and be given a room with padding .. but they'd damn well better not take your guns!

[The Grand Nudger]

They -can- take your guns if you're deemed unstable and a danger to yourself, the laws are already on the books. There's no place in the US where it's actually legal to be crazy with a gun. We seem to think there is such a place though, or that the second amendment grants us a right to be crazy with a gun. We think that, I suppose, because they don't take our guns even when they could, and perhaps when they should. Not really isolated to guns and crazy though, they don't confiscate our cars, or any of the other equally lethal objects in our possession. You have to do some pretty wild shit to have the book thrown at you, to be committed and rubber roomed.

[Clueless Morgan]

Doctors are supposed to make recommendations for the safety of their patients (and in cases like these of others.)  Especially in cases of mental health.

This is where I see the extent of doctors inquiries into their patients' privacy ending.  I absolutely think that it is 100% reasonable that a person who is diagnosed with some kinds of mental illnesses be recommended by their doctor to not keep firearms in their homes along the same lines as a doctor would make health (and/or safety) recommendations to any other patient about any other behavior that could lead to an increased risk of an unhealthy thing happening (and I would classify being shot as an unhealthy thing).  For example, in a family with a young child who exhibits the propensity to light things on fire, I think it is very reasonable for the parents of that child to get a recommendation that they not keep matches or lighters in their home to minimize the risk that the child will burn their house down.

I don't, however, think that doctors necessarily have the right to ask, unbidden, whether their patients keep firearms in their homes, just as I don't think it's an effective use of the doctor's time with their patient to ask every patient they see whether they keep matches.

2) I can think of a few instances in which a doctor might be curious about if a patient had guns or not, for example doctors sometimes ask you if you drive when they give you heavy medication that might prevent you driving.  In some cases they don't ask if you drive, they just say don't drive if you take this medication. 

Exactly.  It's not the doctor's business whether you own a firearm, but I do think it is a reasonable thing to recommend that firearms should not be kept in a household where someone has displayed suicidal or aggressive behavior.

This seems to me to be a problem that's just escalated and got out of hand maybe some doctors asked too many prying questions about guns that they shouldn't have then the backlash is a law that prevents any questions about guns.

Because the best response to a problem is an overreaction.

/sarcasm

In this country, if you're deemed to be a danger to yourself, you may lose your belt and shoe laces and be given a room with padding .. but they'd damn well better not take your guns!