Reply #36: I see no reason to think that the doctor would have an anti-gun position. He or she might have a [View All]

[enough]

realistic idea of the place of guns in the homes in the neighborhood.

I brought this up because it actually happened to me. I live in a rural neighborhood where almost everyone (including us) has guns in the house. I thought it was completely appropriate for my family doctor to bring up the question of how much access my teen child had to the guns in the house. This had nothing to do with getting rid of the guns. It was -- are the guns in a place where your very distraught child cannot get at them? I was glad the doctor brought this up to me during this horrible time in our family's life. And in fact we did move the guns (not out of the house but to a different situation.) I was so worried about my kid at the time that I wasn't thinking straight and I was very glad to have some serious professional help in thinking about the whole thing.

A very competent teen child is a totally different situation from a small child who can be protected more easily.