Doctors routinely ask new patients if they smoke because smoking has been shown to be a risk factor for various diseases. And that is the reason some doctors say they should ask about gun ownership. There may be something to that, the overwhelming majority of gun deaths are in suicides, but it would be like doctors in Japan asking patients if they own rope, since that is the top form of suicide in that country. And in the United States, gun ownership is part of the Bill of Rights so asking patients about it is seen by critics as the same as asking if they have a newspaper subscription or attend church.
Yet some pediatricians (doi:10.1001/jama.2015.3410) think it should be part of routine medical queries. Legislators, under the guise of wanting for doctors to be trusted advisors for the public and not cultural advocates, want to stop the practice, the same way they would want to know about doctors who ask about church attendance and recommend they go - or stop going.
14 U.S. states currently have tried to enact or have enacted legislation curtailing the ability of doctors to use their personal beliefs under the guise of medical concern. The US Court of Appeals 11th Circuit. The circuit court is considering whether to uphold a Florida law signed by the governor in 2011 that medical groups argue infringes on physicians’ freedom of speech. There is a 'good faith' loophole so obviously a doctor asking the family of a suicidal patient about guns is relevant and was always done but some doctors want no loophole, and that is a concern because it may be because they are not acting in good faith. And anti-gun lobbyists are against the law also and readily admit they are using doctors to promote their beliefs. “Safe gun storage practices are something we advocate for through discussions with health professionals,” says Mike McLively, JD, a staff attorney at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence in San Francisco.
Doctors who want to be able to ask about guns say it will introduce a chilling effect, though deaths in Florida and Montana and other states where doctors have to ask in good faith rather than for promotion of their beliefs have seen no increase in gun deaths.
Citation: doi:10.1001/jama.2015.3410