Calling gun violence and related deaths a public health issue, the leaders of seven professional medical societies have joined together with the American Bar Association to push for changes in the nation’s gun laws and policies.
“Because many of the efforts in the past have not been successful to counteract the very heavy lobbying from the gun lobby and the National Rifle Association, our hope is that this unique type of collaboration across health care professional organizations as well as the legal profession – we’re hoping that that type of alliance is something that is so powerful and addresses the concerns ... raised by the NRA and the gun lobby,” Dr. Steven E. Weinberger, chief executive officer of the American College of Physicians, said in an interview.
Dr. Steven E. Weinberger
The policy recommendations were published online Feb. 23 in Annals of Internal Medicine.
The organizations include: American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatricians, American College of Emergency Physicians, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American College of Physicians, American College of Surgeons, and American Psychiatric Association. Also joining in on the recommendations are the American Public Health Association and the American Bar Association.
“Our organizations support a public health approach to firearm-related violence and prevention of firearm injuries and deaths,” Dr. Weinberger and colleagues wrote. “Similar approaches have produced major achievements in the reduction of tobacco use, motor vehicle deaths (seat belts), and unintentional poisoning and can serve as models going forward.”
• The policy recommendations include:
• Supporting criminal background checks for all firearm purchases, including sales by gun dealers, sales at gun shows, and private sales.
• Opposing state and federal mandates that interfere with physician free speech and patient-physician relationship, including physician “gag laws” that forbid physicians to discuss gun ownership and guns in the home.
• Opposing the sale or ownership of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines for private citizens.
• Advocating for research into the causes and consequences of firearm violence and unintentional injuries so that evidence-based policies may be developed.
• Supporting improved access to mental health care, with caution against broadly including all persons with any mental or substance abuse disorder in a category of persons prohibited from purchasing firearms.
• Opposing blanket reporting laws that require physicians to report patients with mental or substance use disorders, as these laws may stigmatize the patients and inhibit them from seeking treatment.
The authors note that these recommendations have been confirmed by the American Bar Association as being “constitutionally sound” and do not interfere with the Second Amendment.
“We’re hoping that ... this will create a groundswell of support from a number of large, prestigious, and influential organizations,” Dr. Weinberger said, noting that the group will be targeting “most of the medical societies for starters” as well as “some of the prominent patient and consumer organizations and obviously organizations that have been involved in firearm violence and advocating for more appropriate firearms control.”