Health groups call for gun-control measures [View all]

http://aapnews.aappublications.org/content/early/2015/02/23/aapnews.20150223-2

"The Academy (The American Academy of Pediatrics) is among eight health groups and a legal organization that are calling on lawmakers to enact firearm regulations they say will reduce injuries and deaths.

“Many physicians, having witnessed the effects of firearm-related injury and death on their patients’ lives, strongly believe that firearm-related injury and death is a major public health problem,” the groups said in a paper, Firearm-Related Injury and Death in the United States: A Call to Action from 8 Health Professional Organizations and the American Bar Association.

“This was not meant to be anti-gun or pro-gun,” he said. “It was meant to deal with it as a public health issue to try to amass the data so we could make better and more informed decisions.”

The groups are making the following recommendations:

Support background checks for all firearm purchases, including those through gun dealers, gun shows and private individuals.

Oppose physician “gag laws” that forbid physicians from discussing a patient’s gun ownership.

Oppose the sale or ownership of “assault weapons” and large capacity magazines for private citizens.

Advocate research into the causes and consequences of firearm violence and unintentional injuries so that evidence-based policies may be developed.

Support improved access to mental health care, with caution against broadly prohibiting all persons with any mental or substance use disorder from purchasing firearms.

Oppose 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."

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The NRA/ILA shut down medical research into gun violence some time ago. Even though President Obama asked the various agencies to begin researching gun violence the funding for such research is very difficult to find. See, the Second Amendment is much more important then the First Amendment. Because . . . gunz an liburty an freedumb.

Support a gun control group of your choice any way you can. Cash, phone bank, write LTTEs, call and email your congress critter. Be heard. It works.