Pediatric doctors' effort to ban guns is medically and factually misguided

WASHINGTON, DC -- A plan by pediatric doctors to lobby for a ban on handguns because they're a "risk" to the safety of children -- and to quiz parents about guns in the home during children's physicals -- is "malpractice against the Constitution," the Libertarian Party charged today.

"Pediatric doctors should concentrate on helping children, not attacking the Constitution," said Steve Dasbach, the party's national director. "Pediatric doctors have no business lobbying to restrict the rights of adult Americans -- and trying to disguise their politics as medicine."

Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) passed a new policy statement demanding that handguns be banned by the federal government; that trigger locks and other "safety" features be mandated until that happens; and that the Consumer Product Safety Commission be allowed to regulate handguns.

The AAP also urged pediatric doctors to interrogate parents about guns in the home during routine physical examinations of children -- and to urge parents to remove any weapons.

Fatal shootings of children have reached an "epidemic" level, said the AAP, which is why "the most effective strategy" to protect children is "to get rid of guns."

But the AAP effort is misguided not only on Constitutional grounds, but also on the basis of the facts, countered Dasbach. The reality is, he said:

* Guns are not a major danger to children.

"The Centers for Disease Control reported that only 42 children under the age of 10 were killed accidentally by guns in 1996," said Dasbach. "While any death is tragic, keep in mind that 40 children under the age of five drown in a typical year in five-gallon water buckets, and another 80 drown in bathtubs.

"If pediatric doctors are genuinely concerned about children, why aren't they lobbying to ban five-gallon water buckets and bathtubs?"

* Guns in the hands of law-abiding Americans save lives.

"According to a study by John Lott and David Mustard at the University of Chicago, concealed carry handgun laws reduced murder rates by 8.5% in those states that passed such laws," noted Dasbach. "Had such right-to-carry laws been in effect all across the USA, there would be 1,600 fewer murders every year. That's potentially 1,600 parents who would be alive to raise their children in a happy, healthy home.

"In their zeal to protect children, these pediatric doctors are putting parents and families at risk."

* The power to ban guns gives the government too much power.

"What these pediatric doctors don't seem to understand is that a government powerful enough to ban handguns is also powerful to nationalize the medical industry, micromanage their practices, and ration healthcare and medicine," said Dasbach. "Children won't be safer if the Constitution gets sicker -- and neither will the freedom of doctors to practice medicine."

For all these reasons, said Dasbach, the AAP should get out of the anti-freedom lobbying business -- and go back to the medical business.

"When doctors take the Hippocratic Oath, they swear to, 'First, do no harm.' The AAP has violated that oath by trying to harm the Constitution -- the document that outlines the basic freedoms that made America the most free and prosperous country on earth, with the most medical choices," he said. "These pediatric doctors need to remember that in the long run, children won't be safer in a country where the government has the power to violate people's basic civil liberties."

END.

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), April 12, 2000

Answers

Sorry,

Screwed up the header,long day.

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), April 12, 2000.

Cap, you might have screwed the header, but your heart is in the right place :-).... call me an anti-gov type, but this just points to the fact that our Gov doesn't trust the common citizen... they fear us and want to disarm us... one has to wonder why...

-- Netghost (ng@no.yr), April 12, 2000.

Netghost,

Do we really have to wonder why?

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), April 12, 2000.

Response to Pediatric doctors' effort to ban guns.Libertarian Release is medically and factually misguided

Capnfun,

It goes even further. They also want to find out if anyone smokes in the home, drinks too much and drives, or uses illegal drugs. My niece is a pediatric cardiologist and a gun owner and not happy about this either.

But remember, it's for the children.........

-- Jim Cooke (JJCooke@yahoo.com), April 12, 2000.

Cap, Jim just kinda said it all.... it's all for the kids..

I don't know if it's still happening in the schools today.... but a few years ago, the kids were taught that if thier parents raised their hand... they would go to jail. My 14 year old daughter was getting way out of hand because of this BS... so I raised my hand... went thru a thing with the child protective services, won on points... but it has to make you wonder.... What The Fuck Are They Thinking?... rant off :-)

-- Netghost (ng@no.yr), April 12, 2000.

Newsday

Toddler Dies After Being Shot

PERRIS, Calif. (AP) -- A 2-year-old girl was killed and her 6-year-old half-sister was wounded after being shot by a man who held their mother captive for three days and repeatedly raped her because she tried to end their relationship, authorities said.

The man, identified as Onemeous Phillion James, 36, killed himself inside the couple's home Monday after the woman escaped, police said.

The girls were shot in the head.

The younger girl, identified as James' daughter, died late Tuesday. The 6-year-old, the woman's daughter from another relationship, was in critical condition, authorities said.

Investigators said James does not have a criminal history, although court records showed James was married to another woman who tried to get a restraining order against him in late March for violent behavior.

James' girlfriend on Friday said she wanted to end the relationship, sheriff's Sgt. Perri Feinstein-Portales said.

James bound the woman's hands and feet with duct tape and held her that way through the weekend, sexually assaulting her repeatedly, Feinstein-Portales said.

On Monday the woman persuaded James that she would not run away if she was released, but she went to a neighbor's home and called for help.

When deputies went to arrest James, they found him dead on a bed. The two girls were found shot in the same room.

No one heard the gunfire, Feinstein-Portales said.

Perris is about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

-- gun control (tos@ve.kids), April 12, 2000.

Response to Pediatric doctors' effort to ban guns.Libertarian Release is medically and factually misguided

I have to point out that in all my experiance and information on government activities to date, the government appears to be MUCH more paranoid than any of the militia types I have had dealings with.

As to the issue of child safety, lets ban cars. And then lets look at the recent report on medical deaths and figure out haw many kids are killed each year by idiot doctors. If the doctors and government types try to point out how many people are saved each year buy cars and doctors, then maybe we can point out to them how many kids are saved each year as a result of guns.

-- Just passin through (nobody@nowhere.com), April 12, 2000.