Are there guns in the home?

[OakRidgeStars]

I had forgotten about that form. Here's the original story from David Codrea.

Thanks for posting.

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-n ... ety-advice

[TScottW99]

When asked if firearms are in your home it is always fun to ask right back if there is porn in their home. You can get some funny looks.

[dorminWS]

I don't think I'd let any doctor examine any child under the age of 12 without a parent present. Surely, my better half would not and has not. That being said, she'd probably let a doc get away with that, even if I told her to bite off the doc's head and spit down his neck-hole if he asked if there were guns in our house. Fortunately, our youngest is 32 years old, and doctors contented themselves back when we did have young children with simple God complexes. If I were a pre-teen's parent and found myself in that situation, I can think of 3 different responses:
(1) Interrupt the questioning by asking if it's now a doctor's role to snoop in what was none of their business and teach children to inform on their parents. You could also coach your kid to shame the doc by asking if he really thought kids ought to "narc" on their parents. In any event, never answer his question - just keep countering with yours.
(2) Simply interrupt and tell the doc to ask the kid something that's the kid's business AND the doc's, because that is neither.
(3) INTERRUPT AND ASK THE DOC IF HE HAS ANY POT IN HIS HOUSE. That'll make about 85% of them stutter these days, I reckon. If he's older ask how many doses of viagra he keeps in his medicine cabinet.

[Kreutz]

Damn, better not tell them about my can opener/diaper genie....

[dorminWS]

Damn, better not tell them about my can opener/diaper genie....

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Are you a doctor? I'm pretty sure I saw one of those contraptions in the corner of the room just before they put me under for my last colonoscopy..................

[theryans33]

i have been asked this once. and it was because i was at a sleep clinic for sleep apnea/sleep walking. i think SOMETIMES its ok to ask

[dorminWS]

i have been asked this once. and it was because i was at a sleep clinic for sleep apnea/sleep walking. i think SOMETIMES its ok to ask

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Why would that make it OK to ask? I'm really interested since I'm going for a sleep-test tonight.

[meak99]

My small-town Ped in Bowling Green didn't ask about guns, but asked if we smoked. We don't, anymore, but even with an answer of "no" he went on about how just the smell of it can get a kid hooked and on and on...

[mamabearCali]

Really? The smell of cigarettes was one of those things that turned me off to it in a HUGE way. They stink to high heaven and make it hard to breathe (from the perspective of a non-smoker). I'd say the good Dr. was speaking out of his tail end.

[M1A4ME]

Why yes, there are. I've bought my youngest son an AR15, a FAL, an M1A, a Colt Series 70 a Ruger Mk1, an Ithaca M37 an M1 Garand, a ............

Oh, and gobs of magazines and ammo. You should reward good kids.

Oh, so you're another one of those college edjucated idiots who doesn't live in the real world but wants everyone else to live in your world...hmmm. So which one of us has mental health issues? I know which one and it ain't me.

I wonder what they'd say if they got the above on their form??

Oh yeah, his first car was FIero GT that we modified to handle like it was on rails. His second car is a Camaro RS with "built" 327 V8 and a 5 speed manual transmission with a full set of suspension/handling upgrades/goodies that will spin the tires at 50 mph in 3rd gear if you hit the gas pedal too hard.

Its not the toys/possessions that are the issue, its the way you bring 'em up that determines what they do with the toys/possessions.

If/when things go down the tubes one of these days I have more faith in my son making it through than the folks who came up with the questionnaire or the folks who use it.

Sorry, couldn't help myself, doc (notice the little d? rather than the big D.)

[seeknulfind]

Update on this - haven't been around in a couple of days.

My wife already checked "yes", I told her to check "no". It doesn't matter - any answer but "no" is a mistake in my opinion.

After reading the responses here and thinking about it, I take the same attitude as I do with LEOs asking impertinent questions: I feel no obligation to answer truthfully.

Find another doctor? Possibly but I'd prefer to judge a doctor on the quality of care rather than an issue like this. This doctor belongs to a group so he may well disagree with the groups decision. From what I've talked to him I wouldn't be surprised if he was as opposed to it as I. As doctors go, he's a good guy - willing to listen to us and consider opposing points of view.

I think a better tact would be education. Remember, the medical field mostly deals with things that go wrong. I'll use this to open a dialog. Worse comes to worse, we'll disagree.

About child services, I am not afraid. We were going to adopt a child from Ukraine, went through more examination than you can imagine - including the guns issue. The only thing they can really complain about is whether the guns are locked up and the ammo locked in a certain place. I don't think they can even legally require that, but sometimes you need to choose your battles.

From subsequent fostering I can tell you they really can't do anything. To my knowledge, there is no law allowing them to remove children just because there are guns in the house.

Andy

[VirginiaXD]

That is just plain crazy.

[meangene]

I'd just answer yes and use it as an opportunity to educate the doctors about the fact that the second amendment doesn't have anything to do with child safety or medical care.

When I was a foster parent I was required to inform the state that I had guns in the home. They didn't care that the guns were there but they did require me to keep my ammo separate when the weapons were not in use. Of course this was in Texas...

[Tweaker]

i have been asked this once. and it was because i was at a sleep clinic for sleep apnea/sleep walking. i think SOMETIMES its ok to ask

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Why would that make it OK to ask? I'm really interested since I'm going for a sleep-test tonight.

My friend does all kind of crap while sleep walking. She has to have her car keys made somewhat inaccessible due to this! A gun close at hand requiring minimal manipulation to bring to bear would be a very real problem for her.

If she could be taught to sleep-vacuum, sleep-sandwich-make or sleep-wash-my buddies-car that would be pretty awesome.

[Rumson]

Tell them yes and ask what the recommended amount of practice rounds per month should be..

Then tell them the American Medical Association published an article that states 225,000 deaths a year in hospitals due to "latrogenic causes"

References here.

http://www.cancure.org/medical_errors.htm

Edit to change negligent to latrogenic causes..

[seeknulfind]

Tell them yes and ask what the recommended amount of practice rounds per month should be..

Then tell them the American Medical Association published an article that states 225,000 deaths a year in hospitals due to "latrogenic causes"

References here.

http://www.cancure.org/medical_errors.htm

Edit to change negligent to latrogenic causes..

+1000

GREAT find Rumson! I just checked and for comparison, there are about 363 unintentional firearms deaths per year.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20441829

Notice this was published by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

So it seems going to the doctor may be much more hazardous to my children's health than staying at home with an arsenal of guns!

Andy

[SHMIV]

Once upon a time (as I understand it), any competent doctor would have simply assumed that there were guns in the home, and it wouldn't have amounted to a hill of beans.

[Rumson]

Tell them yes and ask what the recommended amount of practice rounds per month should be..

Then tell them the American Medical Association published an article that states 225,000 deaths a year in hospitals due to "latrogenic causes"

References here.

http://www.cancure.org/medical_errors.htm

Edit to change negligent to latrogenic causes..

+1000

GREAT find Rumson! I just checked and for comparison, there are about 363 unintentional firearms deaths per year.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20441829

Notice this was published by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

So it seems going to the doctor may be much more hazardous to my children's health than staying at home with an arsenal of guns!

Andy

You're welcome.. I first read about that in Readers Digest years ago.. I like to throw it in the face of all medical personnel who decide to lecture me without knowing the facts they are trying to present.

[VAman]

I agree with the others. This is just plain crazy. I've never been asked this question, but I wouldn't answer it if I was.

[seeknulfind]

Keep in mind, many doctors pride themselves in being "scientists". It might not hurt to ask any doctor in question if s/he believes as such. Once committed to such a proclamation, how can they continue to ignore the facts?

As far as this question is concerned, my own perspective is developing further - thanks very much to those of you posting to this thread.

Now it seems prudent not only answer either YES AND NO or simply YES - and write a comment on the form stating this question should be stricken from the form.

Answering it in one of the two ways above draws attention to the fact that is was answered and not simply skipped over.

The additional comment stays on the record as well as your answer and also potentially opens a dialog.

Andy