I recently read an article in the November 2001 issue of Raising Arizona Kids.  They don't seem to have a copy of it on their web site at [url]http://www.raisingarizonakids.com[/url]

I was considering a reply to them based on a couple of items that seemed out of sorts such as using a medical doctor to be a firearm safety expert...we don't expect doctors standing by at an airshow to know about keeping the Blue Angel's F/A-18's safe, etc.  

However, upon rereading it and looking up every internet link, this article is more than the uninformed neutral article it pretends to be, it's an anti-gun wolf in sheep's clothing aimed directly at the "soccer moms."  This magazine is commonly found in doctor's offices lobbies, etc.

The article:
____________________________________________________________

Q:

How can I prepare my kids to safe if they come into contact with a gun at home or at a friend’s house?

A:

Guns are located in half of the homes in this country, according to the Injury Prevention Center at Phoenix Children’s Hospital (PCH).  Research by the Rand Corporation indicates that 1 in 10 guns are stored unlocked and unloaded.

Those are frightening statistics considering National Safe Kids coalition observations that few children under the age of 8 are able to distinguish between real and toy guns or fully understand the consequences of their actions.

Equally alarming are Safe Kids reports that children as young as 3 are strong enough to pull the trigger of many handguns and that 75-80 percent of children of first and second  grades know where the gun in their home is kept.

According to Safe Kids, 1,500 children ages 14 and younger are treated in emergency rooms for unintentional firearm-related injuries each year; 121 children died from these injuries in 1998.

“Unrealistic perceptions of children’s abilities and behaviors are common factors in these incidents,” Safe Kids reports.  “Parents frequently misperceive a child’s ability to gain access to and fire a gun, to distinguish between real and toy guns, to make good judgments about handling a gun and to consistently follow gun safety rules.”

Half of childhood unintentional shootings occur in the child’s home; 40 percent occur at the home of a friend or relative.  Firearm safety is crucial even for families who choose not to own a gun.

What can parents do?  According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “the absence of guns from children’s homes and communities is the most reliable and effective measure to prevent firearm-related injuries in children and adolescents.”

Yet Nancy Quay, director of the injury prevention program at PCH, considers that suggestion unrealistic.

“It’s not about gun control; it’s about being responsible gun owners,” she says.  Quay offers these tips:
* Keep all guns locked up and hide the key/combination.
* Store bullets separately and keep them locked up.
* Consider buying a trigger lock.
* Choose guns that have load indicators that show whether or not a gun is loaded.

(continued)

(part 2)

Quay also suggests talking frequently with children about sun safety.  Tell them that guns are dangerous and that they should never be touched.  Tell them that when they find a gun they should immediately leave the leave and tell and adult right away.

We practiced having Taylor and Zachary run out of a room and pretend to tell us they had found a gun, just so they would know exactly what to do if it ever happened at a friend’s house.

Ask about guns in the home when you arrange play dates for your children, recommends Pam Goslar, Ph.D., injury epidemiologist with the St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medial Center trauma program in Phoenix, which recently compiled a report titled The Impact of Firearm Violence in Arizona.

Don’t feel guilty or uncomfortable about asking, Goslar urges.  “You wouldn’t let your child ride with someone who didn’t have seat belts, would you?”

Before your child visits a relative or neighbor, say something like, “I try to look at all the safety concerns like swimming pools and guns.  If you have a gun in your home, how do you store it?”

Tell people you like to ask because kids are naturally curious and impulsive.  Ask about air guns and BB guns too, Quay says.  For more tips on how to ask about guns, visit www.askingsaveskids.com

“Don’t underestimate the intelligence of kids,” cautions Lucy Ranus, R.N., B.S.N., Arizona director of the THINK FIRST National Injury Prevention Program.  “All kids have to do to learn how to load and use a gun is watch TV.”

Ranus vividly recalls conversations with grieving parents who said, “I should have…” or “I wish I had…” after their child was hurt or killed by an unintentional firearm injury.

“Don’t make the mistake of believing it can’t happen to your child,” Ranus implores.

To learn more about firearm injuries and prevention tips, visit the following websites:

[url]www.gunfreekids.org[/url]
[url]www.kidsandguns.org[/url]
www.americansforgunsafety.org (I never did find this site, but [url]www.americansforgunsafety.com[/url] shows up)
[url]www.cdc.org[/url]
[url]www.aap.org[/url]
[url]www.safekids.org[/url]

If the TV is teaching kids improper use of firearms, don't let the kids watch it!!
Or TEACH THEM the proper use and handling of a firearm!!
How hard is that??
[smoke]

I was getting the last in a series of hepititas shots and a physical before the beginning of the school year in August and the doctor started asking some questions.  

Doctor:  Do you smoke?

Me:  Yes.

Doctor:  Do you use any barbituates (spelling)?

Me:  No.

Doctor:  Do you wear a seatbelt when you drive?

Me: Yes.

Doctor:  Do you drink to the point of drunkeness with any regularity?

Me:  Not really.

Doctor:  Do you own or carry any firearms?

Me:  Why do you need to know that?

Doctor:  Because it is a factor in you health and well-being, we want to make sure that you don't do unsafe things.

Me:  I refuse to answer that question.

Doctor:  Ok.  We'll go to the next question.  If you do own firearms are they stored seperately from ammunition and kepted locked in a safe?

Me:  I refuse to answer that question.

Doctor:  It's for your own safety.  We have literature for gun owners that may help reduce gun accidents and mistaken-identity shootings.

Me:  If I wanted information on safe storage of firearms I wouldn't ask you.

Doctor:  This info is compiled by experts.

Me:  I don't give a shit.  I'm not telling you whether or not I own guns because it is none of your damn business.  If you really want to help prevent accidents why don't you work to stop medical malpractice that claims hundreds of thousands of lives every year?  Why don't you go back to worrying about the patients well-being instead of your fucking profit margain?  Why exactly must sick people come to your lazy ass when you are far more capable of getting in a God-damned car and driving to their house to treat them you shithead?  If I'm sick I'll come to you, if I need gun safety tips I'll ask people who aren't compiling data on me and actually know what the fuck they are talking about.




I was so pissed off by this bullshit that I told him to just sign the freakin' slip and I left.  Doctors are right along lawyers in thinking they are fucking gods.  The shitty thing is that I went to another doctor at a different office for a sinus infection in November and I was asked the same shit.  I told her that gun ownership and the infection clogging my sinuses had nothing to do with one another and that she better just shelve the questionnaire.

I hate doctors.

Incidentally, I read somewhere last summer that the AMA was distributing these questionnaires and "urging" its members to fill them out completely whenever they treat a patient.  I was more than shocked when a doctor in gun-friendly rural VA started asking me that bullshit.

I guess I am lucky. Every doctor I see is a gun nut. Some how the topic of firearms comes up...

Doctor: Really, you shoot?

Me: Yep.

Doctor: I have

Me: Wow! You have more than me.

Doctor: Where to go?

Me:

Doctor: Cool, I go to some of those places. Hey, I have time this weekend, want to meet up?

Me: Sure!! What time?

We usually meet up, and as always, the doctors bring enough firearms and ammo for a small army. Me with just one rifle and pistol (I don't like to bring my arsonal. I have to clean them afterwards. But the doctors usually bring their kids, and the kids clean up after them).

I guess I am just lucky.

If it happens again to anyone here, tell the doctor that those questions are outside his professional boundaries, and if he persists in asking political questions you will have to file a complaint with the state licensing board.  If he makes the comment that the AMA gave out the questions, reply with "The AMA is both a professional and a political lobbying organization, and that information came from funds provided by their lobbying arm."

Robbie, Redman and others,

There is fortunately, a handy tool that you can use to question doctors about where their professional qualifications truly lie.

A couple of gun activists have teamed up and produced the Physician Qualification and Liability Form.  Redman, you may want to run off a copy and send it to your doctors, and ask him to sign it and put a copy in your file. Something tells me he won't want to [}:D].
http://[url]www.keepandbeararms.com/information/XcIBViewItem.asp?id=2135[/url]

THE PHYSICIAN QUALIFICATION AND LIABILITY FORM

by David Codrea
[email protected]

Here's a handy item to stop the next naive doctor who questions you about guns in the home dead in his tracks. A form has been created in collaboration with Joe Horn, based on original concepts he developed in his ingenious articles:

Risk Management Advice to Physicians and their Insurers: Don't Borrow Trouble, and
Physicians, Don't Borrow Trouble, Part II.
Follow the appropriate link to the form, either in .pdf format (you'll need Adobe Acrobat, a free download) or in MS Word format:

Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) version
MS Word version

I suggest you print out a copy of this 2-page file and make 2-sided photocopies.

Then, the next time your doctor asks you if you keep guns in the home, simply smile and hand him or her the form. Let him know you'll be happy to discuss firearms after he establishes his level of expertise, qualifications and liability.

Keep it friendly. The idea here is to educate, and to get your doctor to pass the form on to the clinic administration. Perhaps this will make them rethink their position on this politically motivated and scientifically unjustified collusion with the forces of citizen disarmament. But also remember, you are under no obligation to answer any questions pertaining to firearms, and you should ensure that your children are educated on this as well; with justifiable concerns over medical privacy and government snooping, this is one area where discretion is appropriate.

Here are two other things you can do to help stop medical infringement of our freedoms:

Email this page's URL to your like-minded friends, and ask them to pass it on.
Refer your physician to Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws through their website at https://[url]www.keepandbeararms.com/dsgl/[/url].