Certain pediatricians now employ the practice of asking kids if “Daddy has a gun,” and, if the answer is “yes,” they follow-up with questions about weapons in the home – legitimate or not. I infer from this that they must think children with gun-owning parents have some sort of health risk.
Let’s consider some numbers:
In the U.S. in 2003, there were 28 accidental gunshot deaths among 10 year old or younger children. There were an estimated 90 million gun owners and about 277 million guns nationwide at that time. There also were 40 million (or so) kids under the age of 10 in 2003. So actually a small percentage of children were killed or about 0.00007 percent (1 child for every 1.4 million) – still way too many, but a small percentage. This also translates that only one gun out of every 100 million guns was involved in the death of a child that year.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1400 kids are killed yearly by automobile accidents, either as passengers or as pedestrians. Why not ask if Daddy owns a car? 90 kids are drowned in bathtubs annually – should we put locks on tubs? Space heaters, swimming pools, bicycles, toxic cleaning agents, skateboards and a host of other common articles are factors in child fatalities. When you add all these “health” risks together, the health risk of a gun in the household is not only dwarfed, but practically eliminated. Why not ask about other known-to-be-dangerous items?
Kids are not so much at risk from guns as they are from parents with habitual substance abuse, violent criminal records, domestic violence and such. Pediatricians should zero in on whether children have parents who are people who would use guns violently, not if “Daddy has a gun.”
Of course anti-gun fanatics and leftists are arithmetically challenged, preferring hyperbole to statistics. Crusading for children, it seems, is a favorite ploy by the left, except when it comes to crusading for abortion wherein children are intentionally killed for the sake of “health” or “convenience.”
Interview your health professionals (after all, they work for you) and see if they have an anti-gun agenda – if they do, FIRE THEM!
And OBTW (oh, by the way) if the country goes to a national health care system, certain anti-gun politicians (Hillary!) will assign a health professional(?) to you – you will have NO choice in the matter, since free trade and competition are the enemies of socialism.
Incidentally, the gun shown is a Para Ordinance Warthog 1911 .45 ACP, which is on Damsel’s wishlist.
Yet, pediatricians would be better off policing their own to insure quality care, rather than quizzing child patients on their parents gun collections. Or does the second amendment mean anything anymore?
It is not the pediatricians job to do the work of law enforcement. Just like it’s not the job of drivers on the road to play traffic cop. If the free market isn’t destroyed by misplaced political correctness or HillaryCare, then pediatricians will lose their customers once parents discover doctors motives other than treating their children’s health care needs.
Great post!
I feel this behavior smacks of pre war Germany. I agree with Kini Great post
As I said in the article, I would fire any professional that is a self-styled police state agent. If I were the parent of a child whose pediatrician had filed a police report for legitimate gun ownership, I would sue the doctor, the medical provider and the American Pediatrics Association. I’m sure that the only reason that there was not a lawsuit in the article I read, is that the liberal jury pool in Massachusetts almost certainly would not have awarded for the plaintiff.
Shades of Nazi Germany, like Kenny says.
Nice post! I would like to link it to my blog “Patriot Warrior” if you don’t mind. The left is really good at ignoring the facts and praying on emotions. Couldn’t agree more!
Darren,
Please do link or copy the article – the more exposure the anti-guns people get to their disingenuous tactics, the better it will be for our second amendment freedoms.