NRA Up to Old Tricks at ALEC, But "Docs and Glocks" Bill Halted

[SecularMotion]

Florida Governor Rick Scott is spending taxpayer money defending a law conceived by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and proposed for ratification by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that would prohibit doctors from asking their patients about gun ownership. Though the law has been blocked by a federal court, it appeared set to follow the path to becoming an ALEC "model bill" paved by the infamous "Stand Your Ground" law, which was initially cited by law enforcement to protect Trayvon Martin's killer in Florida.

Governor Scott signed the "Firearm Owners' Privacy Act" in June of 2011, and a month later, NRA lobbyist Tara Mica presented it as a "model" bill for adoption by the ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force.

In July 2012, a federal judge struck down the so-called "Docs vs. Glocks" law as violative of the First Amendment rights of doctors. "What is curious about this law -- and what makes it different from so many other laws involving practitioners' speech -- is that it aims to restrict a practitioner's ability to provide truthful, non-misleading information to a patient," wrote U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke.

The family doctors and pediatricians that challenged the law assert that guns are a public health issue and doctors have a duty to inquire about ownership -- particularly because gunshots account for a third of all deaths from injury among teenagers, and more than one in five deaths from injury among young people aged 1 to 19. Many years of research demonstrate that even responsible gun owners and their families suffer higher risks of shooting injury or death when they keep a firearm in the home.

http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/08/11695/nra-old-tricks-alec-docs-and-glocks-bill-halted

[Trunk Monkey]

1. That is kind of a dumb law

I don't see the big deal, if my doctor asks me if I own a gun (assuming he doesn't know what I do for a living) I have no problem looking him right in the eye and saying "No.". I don't need some law to protect me from him asking.

That said, my doctor does know what I do for a living and wouldn't bother asking

[Reasonable_Argument]

2. It's none of my doctor's business

Which is exactally what I would tell him if he had the audacity to ask.

[Trunk Monkey]

3. RE:Which is exactally what I would tell him if he had the audacity to ask.

If you go to all that trouble you might as well just say "Yes."