Gun control advocates need Americans to believe that a gun in the home poses a greater threat to its occupants than unwelcome guests. You know; generally. Even though the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right. As in each individual has a right to decide whether or not to have a gun in their home, regardless of [carefully massaged] statistical evidence suggesting it’s a dangerous move. But don’t tell that to the left-leaning medical professionals whose job it is to save life. Physicians like Daniel S. Blumenthal, president of the American College of Preventive Medicine . . .
To the Editor:
“Guns in Tiny Hands: In a Week, Four Toddlers Shoot Themselves” (front page, May 6) highlights the tragic folly of keeping a firearm for self-protection.
Children are not the only victims. Statistics consistently show that the probability of shooting a friend or a relative far exceeds the probability of shooting an intruder or an assailant.
Moreover, the majority of firearm-related deaths in this country are suicides; a person who attempts suicide with (for instance) an overdose of sleeping pills is often rescued, while a person who attempts suicide with a gun is nearly always successful.
In today’s climate, it is unlikely that a public-policy initiative will emerge to address these tragedies. The best strategy that a person can adopt to avoid a gun-related disaster is not to own a gun.
And the best way a person can counter a criminal attack — in their home or on the street — is to own and carry a gun. Which happens at least 50k times per year, and perhaps well over a million.
Regardless of [dubious, contextless] statistical arguments against gun ownership, removing Americans right to keep and bear arms — as many states have — is a state-sponsored disaster. Much like a large percentage of American medical practice.
“Even more significantly, the medical system has played a large role in undermining the health of Americans. According to several research studies in the last decade, a total of 225,000 Americans per year have died as a result of their medical treatments:
12,000 deaths per year due to unnecessary surgery
• 7000 deaths per year due to medication errors in hospitals
• 20,000 deaths per year due to other errors in hospitals
• 80,000 deaths per year due to infections in hospitals
• 106,000 deaths per year due to negative effects of drugs”
From their own journal, maybe they should leave us alone and fix their own problems. Those stats are from 2000, they issues today is twice that of 2000.
The physician my (county) Fire Dept hired to conduct annual physicals is a 2 pack a day smoker. So is the PA that works under him. At least the RN is a fitness guru. It is kind of hard to take medical advice from him when he returns from a smoke break smelling like an ash tray. Nuff said.
In other health news…
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/04/19/474845004/nih-halts-some-research-amid-concerns-over-contamination-and-safety
You do know the old joke.
Why do you think its called a practice??
Docs keep trying to kill you until they get it right.
No different then insanity. Doctors indirectly or directly kill more people then almost everything else combined.
This clown is worried about my gun in my house…………..
We obviously need better Doctor Control.
Most doctors are like politicians, there is a set of rules for them and another set of rules for the saps.
I think your numbers are a little conservative, I’ve seen 250,000 deaths per year recently by some counts.
I wonder what the numbers are for maimed by doctors.
These are only the reported cases, the real number is likely much higher. Some Docs seem to have no problem selling themselves out and being used as pawns in the push for further restrictions over individual rights.
If the obesity “epidemic” is any inclination as to how well people listen to their doctors….WTF makes them think people will pay any attention to them spouting nonsense about guns?
Suicide from tall buildings, trains, hanging, etc is nearly 100% complete yet he cherry picks sleeping pills.
If this doctor cared more about preventing suicide than getting on Bloombergs donate list he would have mentioned that a great many people who attempt suicide, especially those by gunshot, wind up permanently mangled and disabled and retarded because suicide isnt nearly as easy as it sounds. Want to jump? Enjoy your wheelchair. Want to eat pills? Enjoy your colostomy bag. Want to eat some buckshot? Enjoy the rest of you life with half brain and half a face. Whoever has to spoon feed you for the rest of your life will thank-you.
“a person who attempts suicide with (for instance) an overdose of sleeping pills is often rescued,”
right, but what about the person who jumps off a bridge, out of a window or in front of a train?
“Means substitution”. Look it up, Doctor….
I’m kind of like Edith Bunker that way. It actually makes me feel a lot better when people fall out of windows.
Oh, man, thanks for the Edith Bunker flashback:
Edith Bunker walks through the front door of her house with a shocked look on her face –
“I thought it was a religious movie, ‘Cardinal Knowledge’…
It’s so infuriating that the statistics presented for the anti gun case are never statistics that answer the question, they never involve the proper comparison. More likely to shoot a friendly than a bad guy, maybe, but not all bad guys need to be shot to be stopped. Not all DGUs involve shots fired, in fact it seems to be a pretty small minority.
How many news items recently about family members (usually estranged dad) murdering their entire family? Is this what he thinks of as reliable stats? Just because you are related and/or share a house or are friends doesn’t mean something won’t change tomorrow. If you are then forced to shoot your unfriendly family member or friend does that mean having a gun in the house was a bad thing?
We talk about this all the time but the thing is this guy isn’t doing science here and they don’t care about right and wrong, this is politics.
Doctors are seen as reliable and wise, father figures for society. They aren’t talking to people like us, they are speaking to the average non-gun owner and they are being listened to. This guy is a doctor, probably never even picked up a rifle or a box of ammo for all we know – it doesn’t matter this is not information it is propaganda.
And it doesn’t matter what we counter with, the media will only produce stories with guys like this in it, with misleading statistics and inflammatory rhetoric.
I don’t know how we counter this, the media is a powerful force, you cannot make people understand complex things like this if they don’t want to listen to you. Yes it’s not that complex, but it is complex enough to not be explainable in one or two sound bytes.
Remember that FAR more people die in private pools, especially children, than negligent discharge. There is also no right to be able to have a private pool. There’s ample history of building codes restricting what you can and can’t have in a private dwelling.
Why then is it they never discuss banning private pools?
Could it be because you can’t stop stuff like EO9066 with a pool?
Why bother?
No one here will ever listen to a medical professional…Wonder why?
The fascist gun riech supporters are too FLAME DELETED to realize that the rest of the civilized world has suffer no problems with strict gun control.
States with strict gun control have lower violent crime and suicides than states with lax laws.
There have been no confirmed cases of law abiding citizens ever using a gun to stop crime.
“DGUs” are nothing but a MYTH!
Your 50X more likely to turn your own weapon on yourself or a murder a loved one than stop criminal threats.
And another study showed that CCW holders are known to make situations actually worse!
To this day, I still don’t see Europe, Australia or Japan turning into oppressive symbols of fascism.
Hmm…I’ve enemies…That means I’ve stood up for something.
If I’d stood up for stupidity, I’d have enemies. If I advocated for stupid legislation – I’d have enemies too. Having enemies does not mean what you are doing is good.
Hitler had enemies too, Willy. It doesn’t mean he was in the right.
Luchmeat, please learn something about firearms use. ..start with the FBI statistics….learn the facts…simple rule, the more you know, the more questions you should have..gunner or non gunner..alway question statistics…just like politicians. They are all biased…but once you realize the real truth, I will be more than happy to listen…
Tell your mom to limit your Internet to an hour a day during the school year. Nevermind I’ll remind her
Who says he has a mom?
You talk to her? What a novel idea. All I see is the top of her head and the Tubmans I leave on the dresser.
Europe regulates speech. You can be jailed for uttering “hateful” words.
Japan, same deal.
Australia routinely filters and censors the internet. Our Aussie brethren fight back (unlike yourself) and have put down the more egregious attempts. However, their battle rages on.
Last time I checked, fascists routinely sought out to control what people say and think.
If you want to trade freedom (in all aspects) for a little safety, be my guest. I actually can get you a pretty sweet deal on overseas relocation services.
Tubesteak, as a troll you’re a complete failure. You’re not even trying. Either get some training or get out.
“To this day, I still don’t see Europe, Australia or Japan turning into oppressive symbols of fascism.”
Oh, you mean like the guy who made the Nazi Pug video in Europe and was arrested? Nope, not tyranny at all. Go ahead and see if you have free speech by saying something that isn’t double plus good according to the government or perpetual victim groups.
Or the ex-pat Turkish poet who was arrested in Germany for writing a poem that insulted Erdogan. Or the German politician sued by Erdogan for laughing out loud at the poem. Or the people arrested in England for saying bad things about Islam, while Islamic migrants can say anything at all without fear of criticism, arrest or retribution. An the beat (down) goes on…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3580961/I-m-not-just-typical-granny-Woman-80-shot-killed-intruder-broke-stabbed-husband-kitchen-just-did-do.html
Here you go tube steak.
Robert, can you please ban tube steak like you did with stoopid.
Hello, I’d like to sincerely apologize for the disrespectful tone my son Willy_Lunchmeat uses in this blog.
You see, I had a bit of an alcohol problem when Willy was an infant and dropped him on his head several dozen times and he hasn’t been right in the head since then.
Please forgive little Willy.
If that’s true then cops don’t need guns. Military don’t need guns. The presidents security detail don’t need guns. Billionaires security details don’t need guns. Etc.
Willy,
The longer you talk, the more you discredit yourself.
Strongly disagree about no one here listening to a medical professional. I suspect a percentage of people take here take at least 1 prescription drug. Not to mention there is another percentage of posters here that unconditionally support mandatory medical procedures, managed through the medical professionals.
Doc, it’s none of your damn business whether I have a GLOCK or not. I’m sure when someone kicks down your door at 3 AM they’re gonna listen to you pontificate.
Physician, heal thyself, indeed.
DRGO needs to respond to these clowns.
Thanks for your mention of DRGO. Yes we respond to all the anti-gun rhetoric that we possibly can. FB, twitter, and our web site DRGO.us. I will be doing an AMA on Reddit /r/progun later this month. #2A
When I’ve seen this claim made elsewhere people sometimes throw out a link to a study thinking you won’t read it or know how to.
So I read the one that most commonly shows up and it has nothing to do with the chances of a problem within the house and the chances of shooting a burglar.
Instead, it said that in cases of suicide, the chances that an attempted suicide is successful goes up by about 5.5% if a firearm is used. If you put a gun in your mouth you’re 5.5% more likely to kill yourself than if you jump off the roof head first, hang yourself or tape a plastic bag over your head.
In terms of murder by a significant other the chances the murder is successful it goes up about 3% for women and 5% for men.
In other words, if your significant other has already decided to murder you and is seriously attempting to do it they chances they succeed in killing you go up by 5% if your wife decides to shoot you rather than come after you with a meat cleaver.
I may have noted this before, but most of the anti-gun articles written by doctors are by pediatricians or public health types like this guy. Most of the pro-gunowner rights articles written by doctors are by surgeons or other procedural specialists. A surgeon once told me (he was biased, but I think correct) that the way it went/goes in medical school is: the smartest students gravitate to the procedural specialties. The ones who also have good hand technique become surgeons. The ones who don’t have good hand skills become cardiologists, radiologists, etc. Not coincidentally, all these usually are the high paying specialties. The rest become primary care doctors, are forever jealous, and are always seeking a way to get back at the people who were there betters in medical school. Therefore they often become HMO physicians where they can exercise annoying, bureaucratic control on the specialists.
I hope he washes his hands regularly. Because more people die from hospital transmitted infections (the result of health care providers not practicing proper hygiene) than from guns. By about three to one.
Here we go again, the same tired, stupid-ass retarded statistic that restricts DGU’s to justifiable homicides. Most of the time the homeowner just has to show his gun, and the criminal runs away like a scared little bitch. I guarantee you that these instances would go very differently if the homeowner were unarmed.
Based on the medical mistake statistics, Dr. Douchebag is more than 40 times more likely to have innocent blood on his hands than any gun owner.
This is a massive misdirection play. Docs are against Glocks to distract us from the real problem — docs kill 400,000 Americans every year. And yet they are sacrosanct despite a mountain of dead bodies.
In the ProgLibyte mind what you try to do because it makes you feel good is more important than the actual results.
Because doctors were TRYING to heal their patients when the “medical misadventure” killed them instead the docs feel no guilt or remorse.
Exactly.
Ralph, “Preventive Medicine” is a scheme for attracting tax dollars, and that makes Dr. B’s opinion on firearms suspect. I doubt you trust the disarmament crowd’s “research” on gun issues, and you are aware of the push for the government to control health care–electronic records, Obamacare, single-payor, etc. The notion that medical errors are a huge risk to the American public is political propaganda, which supports the assertion “we need greater government oversight in healthcare.”
There is no question health care is being used by government to control its people, but you are mistaken that medical mistakes are political….they are vastly under reported.
Not sure of the numbers, but….
300,000,000 guns, 1500 accidental firearms deaths per year.
As of May 2014, total number of health care employees in the US is 12.2 million (from kff.org). Not sure if that includes insurers and other non direct care givers.
200,000 accidental care relatted deaths per year.
If by his logic the safest strategy is not to own a gun, then by the math, it is far safer not to seek the services of a medical care giver…..
it is far safer not to seek the services of a medical care giver
Once upon a time, people went to a hospital to get well. Now, people go to a hospital to get sick. Or dead.
The doctors logic is as follows:
The best strategy that a person can adopt to avoid a Medical-related disaster is not to go see Doctors.
Robert,
Instapundit linked to the case below where residents appealed an occupancy cert obtained by NoVA Armory in Arlington Virginia – Liberal bastion that it is.
I attended the meeting tonight, and, after 3 hours of regular business, we got to hear the claims against the dealer. They were specious at best and tantamount to harassment. And there in lies the story. NoVA Armory has filed a lawsuit in Richmond naming over 50 people as conspiring against his business. Punch back twice has hard as Obama informs me.
R/ Concerned Citizen. .
Oh – and the case was dismissed. Even the “Save the Earthworms” guy was in favor of the gun shop or at least knew harassment when he saw it.
https://thelibertyzone.com/2016/05/11/freedom-under-attack/
If we could only get drowning, poisoning, automobile accident, bicycle accident and falls deaths down to the level of firearm accidents. Then we would have something to brag about.
Now that’s a good lookin man right there, rawr!
Well, I can say that about pretty much everything I own.
The best strategy that a person can adopt to avoid a gasoline-related disaster is not to own gasoline.
The best strategy that a person can adopt to avoid a Swimming-related disaster is not to own a Swimming pool.
The best strategy that a person can adopt to avoid a Motorcycle-related disaster is not to own a Motorcycle.
The best strategy that a person can adopt to avoid a Kitchen knife-related disaster is not to own Kitchen knives.
The best strategy that a person can adopt to avoid a Parasailing-related disaster is not to go Parasailing.
The best strategy that a person can adopt to avoid an In home stairs-related disaster is not to own Stairs in your home.
The list goes on and on infinitely in all directions to no logical end. Just like this doctor’s reasoning.
All you f*****s bashing doctors are clueless idiots. I am a Doc Against Glocks…I prefer my 1911s.
Is that your professional opinion, or is that the alcoholism/drug addiction/mental instability talking, which physicians tend to suffer from at higher rates than the general population?
Hmmm….perhaps the POTG should start a new group: Folks Against Docs Having GLOCKS. If it saves just one doctor…..
If lack of firearms prevented suicide then Japan would have a lower rate than the USA. Yet theirs is nearly double ours. 19.4 vs 10.1 per 100k in 2005. So obviously the culture and other external factors are at play. Sorry doc your argument is busted.
Physician heal thyself (and the several hundred thousand people you and your colleagues will kill this year)
Also go pound sand.
Firearm ownership is not a diagnosis.
I say that as a healthcare provider.
Mind your own business Docs.
ted nugent was right
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