Doctor's Inquiry Re Gun Ownership

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If every gun owner replied, "Your services are no longer needed. Immediately provide copies of all my medical records to me. I'll be taking my business elsewhere.", we'd see many physicians drop the line.

If every gun owner posted to Yelp or other review sites the physicians name and address with the complaint on this it would further impact their business penalizing them for asking the question.

Many have suggested this type of action, and it only makes me think: none of y'all have tried to get an appointment with a new doctor in the last year.

Your doctor is not the same as your car mechanic or your gunsmith. Your doctor has more patients than they can possibly see. If you change doctors, your current doctor won't even notice.

So, here's my suggestion: Forget about it. This one is beyond influence (unless, maybe, you can take your doctor shooting). This is not an (medical) ethical issue which the AMA might handle. This is probably driven by insurance companies, and we aren't going to make them rethink their actuarial tables. Your legislator is not going to pass a law prohibiting your doctor from asking.

Smile, check the 'No' box, and be on your way.
 
Our pediatrician asked. I said yes and that they were locked up. She was fine with that. I wasn't offended. There were other questions as well relating to child safety. I also,had a friend who got shot playing cops and robbers when a loaded unsecured firearm when he was young so maybe I'm a bit sensitive to this issue.
 
My audiologist definitely knows I own guns, as she prescribes hearing aids for me via the VA, never had a problem with that type of situation. My other primary care physician at the VA is also a hunter/shooter and we generally discuss our shooting exploits when ever were together. Reckon that is the pleasures of living in a gun loving part of the good old USA.
 
I have never been asked this question and neither has my wife. I've only been to four different doctors in the last twenty years but my wife has been to a bunch more than I have. Must be something about the area we live in.
 
Last year my ENT had me submit to a hearing test to establish a baseline for future reference. He took one look at the results and said "ah, you are right handed and you are a shooter". He said he could tell because I had a slight degradation to certain frequencies in my left ear. He went on to explain that was the ear closest to the muzzle if I was right handed. We both chuckled and left it there. He has since retired.

My primary care physician and I used to talk about shooting and hunting. He even asked my advice on a carry pistol. Last year he stopped going down that road so I followed his lead and we haven't mentioned it since. If he over "officially" asks me I will simply lie.
 
You guys are all way far ahead of me on the curve, now I'm wondering if I made a mistake last week volunteering to my optometrist that I was taking up shooting after he had told me I have to wear brown or dark gray sunglasses whenever I'm outside in the daytime. His only response was not to wear the yellow lenses a lot of shooters wear.

In my defense, I was partly aggravated that the ophthalmologist never told me this, the AMD started a couple of years ago and all this time I thought the UV protection in my regular glasses was enough.
 
Snake Eyes is incorrect thinking this is from insurance companies. It has been verified as being from the medical community.

Our opposition to this sort of questioning is important if we expect to preserve our rights. No other BOR questions are asked so why the 2nd if there's no agenda behind it? The agenda is to establish firearms ownership as a public health threat.
 
I was just discussing this issue with one of my state senator's on Facebook (she was actually the one who brought it up). At least our local legislators are as repulsed by this question as I am.
 
Some possible responses:
"You know, a friend of mine who owns guns went to his gunsmith and instead of fixing his gun, the gunsmith started asking him questions about his medical history and conditions and wanted to give him medical advice.

His gunsmith has no medical credentials at all--what do you think about a situation like that, doctor?"
I wish I'd thought of that one. If it ever happens again, I'll use it.

"Well isn't that a bizarre coincidence. That's just what my last doctor asked me right before I got a new doctor."
In the spirit of Activism, I will say that this is exactly what happened the one time I was asked this on a questionnaire from my (former) doctor. That was almost ten years ago. Told him that I found this question inappropriate and out of line, and I would be looking for a new GP.

And that is exactly what I did.

I am not going to lie, or hide the fact that I am a gun owner from someone I am paying to service me.

I don't advertise it with NRA stickers or glock outlines on my rear windows like some do, but my friends and co-workers know I am a shooter, because I take new shooters to the range somewhat regularly.

My current MD asks no such tomfoolery. Apparently, he takes the AMA's "recommendations" with a grain of salt. And at least on of his patients truly appreciates it. He also arranges for my annual physical to include an extra vial of blood for a lead test, since I am both a handloader and a regular indoor range shooter.
 
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I've never been asked and there's been at least a dozen opportunies in the last 3 years alone.

Maybe it's a state thing.
 
My new doc is a guy I grew up with...and I rabbit hunted in his pastures. No questions typically come up that are directly about guns unless he is looking for something new.
 
My daughter has a check-up tomorrow. I guess I need to think about how to handle this question.

As for my doctors, well, I've mentioned to my eye doctor that my prescription needs to accommodate some distance vision, as I hunt. I've probably mentioned it to my GP, as well, but I can't really recall. That said, neither has ever asked anything in the way of "do you have them securely stored?" or anything like that.
 
My [woman] doctor knows that I own firearms. In fact...She even knows what I carry as I wear it into the clinic. Keep trying to get the nurse to deduct the weight of the .45 ACP when she weighs me. All I get is a giggle from her.

I live in Missouri. EVERYONE has firearms around here and nobody cares.
 
I've never been asked. I would would definately answer NOYB if it was on a general questionaire or for that matter from a doctor if it were about OWNERSHIP. On the other hand, if I'm being asked if I am a SHOOTER, it could be very relevant to my health, especially in matters concerning eyes, hearing, and respiratory.


We do need to be aware that the CDC, AMA, and other less than 2A friendly orgs often probe for this kind of information from physicians to create statistics that will not be analyzed or used in our favor.
 
My doctor, a woman, owns several guns and goes shooting regularly. I haven't been out shooting with her, but know a man and wife that she used to go out with a lot. The couple moved a while back. I told the doctor that if she ever wanted anyone to go out with her shooting, I'd be honored to go with her. I don't know if her boyfriend goes shooting with her or not. I don't think she hunts, just likes to go out shooting. I know a while back, she got a new 1911 in .45 caliber.
 
When this question was on a form I had to fill out for my first time seeing a doctor I took the bottle of white out I had and whited out the question on the sheet.
 
I asked my Dr for a blood test for lead, just to know, since I shoot lead bullets and reload. Test was normal, and it led to a brief discussion; the Dr used to reload etc.
 
I told one doctor not long ago that if he wanted to talk about dangerous weapons, he was looking at the wrong part of my body. That ended that and I found a better doctor soon afterwards.
 
"When this question was on a form I had to fill out for my first time seeing a doctor I took the bottle of white out I had and whited out the question on the sheet."

Haaaaaa, that is great! :)

Wonder how many people carry around a bottle of white-out, maybe not a bad idea for doctor visits...
 
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