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Opponents Take Aim At ‘Docs V. Glocks’ Law
April 28, 2016
Doctors and physician groups filed an 86-page brief this week asking a federal appeals court to reject a controversial Florida law that would restrict doctors from asking questions and recording information about patients’ gun ownership.
The brief came as the full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals prepares to hear arguments June 21 about what has become known as the “docs v. glocks” law. The state filed a brief last month urging the court to uphold the law.
The plaintiffs’ brief filed Monday argued, in part, that the 2011 law violates the First Amendment rights of physicians to discuss safety-related issues with patients.
“In (the law), the Florida Legislature does what no legislative body has done before or since; it prevents doctors from providing patients with truthful advice to keep their families healthy and safe — speech that is recommended as standard protocol by national medical associations,” the plaintiffs’ brief said. “If (the law) is allowed to stand, it sets precedent for states, at the bidding of other industries or special interests, to prevent doctors from speaking to patients about risks posed by other dangerous products or activities. The First Amendment does not allow the state to single out and censor one topic (firearms), or one group (doctors, or patients), or to so interfere with the doctor-patient relationship.”
The full appeals court agreed in February to take up the case, after a three-judge panel issued three rulings upholding the constitutionality of the law.
The law, backed by groups such as the National Rifle Association, includes a series of restrictions on doctors and other health providers. As an example, it seeks to prevent physicians from entering information about gun ownership into medical records if the physicians know the information is not “relevant” to patients’ medical care or safety or to the safety of other people.
The NRA filed a friend-of-the-court brief last week that said it championed the law after members were asked intrusive questions about gun ownership during visits to doctors’ offices. The NRA brief described the law as “a modest regulation of the medical profession that does not infringe upon First Amendment rights.”
by The News Service of Florida
Comments
7 Responses to “Opponents Take Aim At ‘Docs V. Glocks’ Law”
Mental health is in the eye of the beholder. It would be easy for anti-gun MD to write down unstable personality. You would never know. Just try to take a peek at your medical records.
I agree with Anne, Jim, EMD, Bob, Daniel and Dave. All totalitarian regimes hate the idea of private gun ownership.
I fear the government much more than a criminal intruder. I recomend the reading of “One Day in the Life of Ivan Densovich”.
Remember, the government is pushing for medical records to be available on online so doctors can see “all of your medical records” from other doctors and medical facilities and for insurance purposes.
All for our own good, of course.
If gun questions are allowed, the feds then have a national database on gun ownership, something the liberals have been clamoring about for some time.
So what is next , having a note from a Doctor saying you are physically and mentally sound to purchase a gun?
If I’m ever asked a question regarding firearms by one of my Doc’s, I’ll politely decline comment or impolitely tell him or her that “it’s none of your business.”
I guess we have a new generation of liberal doctors that think the government is our friend.
next they will be asking you what party affiliation you’re with.
To me this is another means for the government to track who owns firearms.
My doctor has what he calls “Medicare checkup” to check my heart, blood pressure, that sort of thing and that’s fine with me, plus any health issues I bring up.
Having him ask about firearms would be like not answered.
We have never discussed whether I have a firearm or not and if he were forced by this liberal restrictive government to ask I’d ask him how his golf game is going.