AMA Votes to Lobby Congress to Allow Independent Gun Research

No matter where one stands on the "right to bear arms," (and that's a misrepresentation of the actual wording of the Second Amendment), I doubt many of us approve of innocent children and adults being gunned down by what I call, "weapons of mass destruction."

So far, the NRA has not allowed any studies by the CDC as to the toll that gun violence is taking on this country. I find that outrageous in light of the following statistic:

"With approximately 30,000 men, women and children dying each year at the barrel of a gun in elementary schools, movie theaters, workplaces, houses of worship and on live television, the United States faces a public health crisis of gun violence," AMA President Dr. Steven Stack said in a statement.

We are rapidly approaching an equivalent number of people killed each year by gun violence as by car accidents.  Does anyone else find that repulsive/disgusting/unacceptable?  The government recalls massive amounts of GM vehicles because a handful of people have died from faulty ignitions, but it's okay with our representatives (and, for that matter, us) that tens of thousands die that needn't because we appear to love weapons more than lives.

"Even as America faces a crisis unrivaled in any other developed country, the Congress prohibits the CDC from conducting the very research that would help us understand the problems associated with gun violence and determine how to reduce the high rate of firearm-related deaths and injuries," Stack said.
"An epidemiological analysis of gun violence is vital so physicians and other health providers, law enforcement and society at large may be able to prevent injury, death and other harms to society resulting from firearms," he added.

I read an article today in which the family of the man who invented the AR-15 that the NRA calls, "America's gun,"  states  that Eugene Stoner didn't even own the gun, himself, and intended its use for the military, only. "The ex-Marine and "avid sportsman, hunter and skeet shooter" never used his invention for sport. He also never kept it around the house for personal defense."

We are in a public health crisis, the likes of which that no other Western country
experiences.  Can we at least agree that none of us wishes to be put in a position of imminent death from another person who just wants to kill somebody?  It's time to call out the NRA and all the politicians too intimidated by their "buying power" to stand up for us to allow this research to proceed.

Dr. Esther
fixdhealthcare.com