The AMA opposes any law that bars doctors from having conversations about gun safety, do you agree?

[rrneck]

21. None.

But I heard about one.

http://www.ocala.com/article/20100724/ARTICLES/7241001/-1/news?Title=Family-and-pediatrician-tangle-over-gun-question

It's one thing to offer safety advice and another to invade people's privacy. There is a big difference between simply telling people "if you own a gun/swimming pool/cleaning supplies/power tools here is important advice regarding owning these things" and demanding to know whether or not they actually own them. That's the difference between offering helpful advice and passing judgement. If reports are true the doctor in question behaved like a judgmental asshole instead of actually helping people.

Of course, when it comes to guns partisans on both sides of the issue get hold of it and turn it into a shitstorm which is a waste of the public's time and money. So on the pro gun side conservative politicians try to micromanage the doctor patient relationship and on the anti gun side liberals try to treat a chunk of metal and plastic like a dangerous pathogen. Both positions are bullshit not because of the danger of guns to the public but because conservatives will jump at any chance to piss and moan about the "nanny state" and shoot ACA in the foot and liberals have a bug up our ass about the conservative gun totem.

Doctors should be able to discuss matters of consequence with their patients and if the surgeon general thinks guns are a public health issue he needs to teach the cops to jump through a rip in the fabric of time so people don't feel like they need to own a way to defend themselves.

Does this mean that I don't support the president's choice for Surgeon General? No. If that's the guy the prez likes I'm behind him. Not because I think his attitude toward guns makes sense. From what I hear he's wrong. But I'm a loyal democrat that trusts his president to make the right call even when I don't think he's doing so and it's a waste of time and political capital to raise a stink about it. If the surgeon general wants to push the concept of guns as a dangerous pathogen he'll get his ass handed to him because, reality.

And that's the difference between understanding the realities of politics, human nature and physics in the real world and feeding on some fundamentalist understanding of partisan politics dug out from the bottom of a cereal box.