Dear Doctor,
Our profession is being hijacked in the service of gun confiscation. In September, Virginia gun ban activists held a so-called “gun violence” symposium medical education event. It was sponsored by St. Mary’s Hospital, the City of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University and, ostensibly, the Virginia Department of Health, but featured branded slides and speakers from the gun ban group the Coalition Stop Gun Violence, which proudly claims to “combat the NRA.”
Instead of focusing on mental health (two-thirds of gun-related deaths are suicides), and inner-city gang- and drug-related gun deaths (nearly one-third of gun-related deaths), the Bloomberg-financed and Governor Ralph “Blackface” Northam-sponsored so-called “gun safety legislation” is nothing more than a pile of “citizen endangerment laws.”
Possession of guns and magazines in lawful common use will become felonious, and the removal of state pre-emption will allow each locality to capriciously decide where you can carry.
None of this has anything to do with safety. This was driven home by the call to use the National Guard to force compliance, and Northam’s admission that none of this would have done anything to prevent the atrocities at Virginia Beach and Virginia Tech.
All of us are saddened by any death, but it is essential that public policy be based on facts, not feelings. For example, guns are used defensively vastly more often than they are used criminally. Additionally, as Venezuela and other nations demonstrate, civilian gun ownership deters government tyranny.
No doubt Venezuelans didn’t foresee their current predicament when they disarmed about seven years ago, and Venezuela health care providers wouldn’t have imagined being dragged off hospital grounds for peacefully protesting the lack of the most basic supplies.
These laws are just the beginning. Regardless of the Constitution, your personal ethics or your specialty, don’t be surprised if in the near future you are legally required, as proposed in Massachusetts, to interrogate your gun-owning patients and then “counsel” them against gun ownership.
Or, as in other states, be expected to initiate a “red flag” gun confiscation without due process against your patients, executed at gun-point. Legally-imposed ethical and boundary violations are likely to follow, with potential malpractice exposure for acting outside the bounds of professional competence and experience.
As grim as the present situation is, there is hope. We recommend visiting Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership (DRGO) at DRGO.us. Our three-part History of Public Health Gun Control will bring you up to speed on the hard facts about the disgraceful ongoing “public health” war on gun owners.
While you’re at DRGO.us, please click on <JOIN NOW> in the top right corner of the page. Since 1994 DRGO has worked to expose fraudulent public health “research” that is in reality thinly disguised anti-gun propaganda.
We urge you to attend the Virginia Citizens Defense League’s annual Lobby Day on Monday, January 20, when thousands will gather in Richmond to politely but firmly stand up for their constitutional rights. See VCDL.org for details.
Remember the stature you have as a medical doctor who supports all of our civil rights, including the Second Amendment. Imagine how powerful our message will be when droves of white coats show up on the January 20th Lobby Day. We look forward to seeing you!
Join DRGO by clicking that JOIN NOW button at DRGO.us.
Be well, be safe, and be free!
Sincerely yours,
Dennis Petrocelli, MD, Forensic Psychiatrist, Richmond, VA
Arthur Przebinda, MD, DRGO Project Director