Doctors fight gun ‘gag laws’

Doctors across the country are taking action against ‘gag laws’ that would prevent then from asking patients if they have guns in their homes.

One such law, passed in Florida in 2011, is currently being fought in the courts by a coalition of physicians. Similar laws are pending in 12 other states.

In a March 29, 2015 Worcester Telegram & Gazette article, about a group of doctors and medical students in Worcester, Mass. who are fighting the gag laws, David Hemenway of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said that “the evidence is just overwhelming” about the health risks of access to guns.

“If you care about kids’ health, then you have to care about what is most dangerous to children,” said Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center. “In the same way, physicians should be asking about guns because they’re very dangerous to children.”