“I am dying with the help of too many physicians.” —Alexander the Great
Over a month ago, a group of pediatric physicians in New Hampshire, “passed the hat,” and paid for a two-third-page advertisement in the New Hampshire Union Leader Sunday News, politically weighing in on the gun debate. For their roughly $3,000 spent, here is what they had to say in their February 3rd letter….
An Open Letter on Guns —
From NH Pediatricians to Our Legislators
As professionals who care for children, we spend our time supporting their health and well-being. We are collectively appalled by gun violence in our country. We believe that legislators have failed to protect children from gun violence, as evidenced most recently by the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. We expect our legislators to support common sense firearms regulations proposed by President Obama and stricter state regulations as well. The regulations should:
1. Limit sales of high-capacity rapid-fire weapons.
- Reinstate and strengthen the ban on assault weapons.
- Limit ammunition magazines to ten rounds.
- Apply these bans to old weapons–buy them back.
2. Enhance oversight of gun sales.
- Require background checks on ALL gun sales, including gun shows and private sales.
- Increase penalties for “straw purchasers,” people who buy weapons for someone else.
- Include a waiting period to prevent tragedies that arise when emotions are high.
- Aggressively pursue trafficking–unethical gun dealers should be put out of business.
3. Limit weapon carrying in public places.
- Prohibit anyone other than a law enforcement or security officer from bearing arms in federal and state, buildings, airports, hospitals and public schools.
4. Earmark funds for mental health services and research on gun and media violence.
- Expand mental health programs for young people
- Fund violence data collection and research at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
- Hold congressional hearings on product placement of assault weapons in video games.
The frequency of gun deaths and injuries in our country is unacceptable. We will not allow our children, who represent our future, to suffer as we remain silent. According to recent polls, a majority of N.H. residents support common sense limits to gun ownership and access, and we urge our representatives enact them now. In the words of Pablo Casals, “We must all work to make the world worthy of its children.”
Pediatricians play an important role in the lives of our children. We the parents seek out reputable quality medical care to ensure healthy growth and development of our children. The problem in the last fifteen to twenty years with pediatricians is that some stick their noses where they do not belong. Instead of providing necessary care, they step over the line, asking intrusive questions about things they really have no business asking about. “Are there guns in the home?” Honestly? NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS!
This “Open letter isn’t just an open letter. It is minding everyone elses’ damn business, quite frankly. And when those of us within the gun community read such prattle, it becomes pretty clear the letter has everything to do with left-wing anti-gun politics and nothing to do with that which they practice.
First, the pediatricians are “appalled by the gun violence in the country.” So tell me who isn’t? On the other hand, we already know that the number one killer of children is car crashes in improperly placed child restraints; and, more than a third of those children die at the hands of drunken drivers. Gang violence accounts for a major portion of gun deaths for those under the age of eighteen. What we are not going to hear pediatricians tell us is that they see thousands of throughout the course of a year, many of which live in homes where guns are present, and the only time they know that or it becomes an issue is when they ask…and press about it.
Every aspect of this letter articulates the current positions of all the anti-second amendment groups, left-wing gun grabbers and other Kool-Aid-drinking progressives who want to completely disarm America. A total rehash of the gun grabbers of America. This letter is pretty clear: Pediatricians want the government to take away our guns! Who will argue otherwise? I am relieved to see that my daughter’s pediatrician is not listed in the list…(oh, the list….I will provide that in another entry.)
As for me, I am not buying into this half-rotted bag of bologna that somehow physicians have the answers in the gun debate. Of all the aforementioned above, it has been well-established that none of the above would have prevented what took place in Newtown/Sandy Hook. The time is now to plainly state why so many have lost their lives in massacres such as these. In each case where a massacre has taken place, there existed no means to meet the deadly force with equal force to terminate the actions of the attacker. These murderous rampages were carried out where policies and philosophies and ideas prevailed leaving people as mere sitting ducks. And for that we blame an inanimate object, making fraudulent corrupt arguments that somehow eliminating guns, eliminates such violence.
Do not buy into this false credibility that somehow these physicians know what they are talking about. They do not. Remember, they are trained to perhaps treat a gunshot wound, not prevent the gun violence that brought them the victim with the wound. Lastly, this whole notion of funding CDC for gun violence statistics is asking for the anti-gun agenda to be funded by government. FBI.gov continues to be a reasonably credible source of gun violence statistics.
As I pointed out in earlier writings, Gun laws in the U.S. have been broadly expanded while gun crime has plummeted. Most of the gun violence in our country hails from places that already have highly restrictive gun laws or bans in place. Inversely, while other countries have tightened gun policy, crime has increased sharply.
If pediatricians want to engage in left-wing social policy, they ought to do so honestly and as citizens instead of hiding behind the credentials of medical professionals. Apart from their education and training, their no more intelligent or discerning than others in society.
