TALLAHASSEE: Doctors and other medical providers would be barred from asking patients - or the parents of child patients - if they have guns in their home under a measure that promises a major showdown between powerful lobbying groups. . . Sponsored by Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, the bill (HB 155) would make it a felony for a physician or staff member to ask patients or family members of patients if they own guns or store guns at home. If found guilty, the medical provider could be fined up to $5 million or face up to five years in jail.
A FELONY! A felony just to ask a simple, sensible question! 5 years in prison for daring to suggest that maybe you might want to keep toddlers from getting their little hands on lethal firearms.
Gun-rights groups say the measure was prompted by complaints from gun owners following an incident this summer in which an Ocala area physician told a couple to find a new pediatrician after they refused to answer questions about whether they had guns in their home and how they were stored.
REALLY? That's it? A doctor was rude to a couple of gun freaks and now some folks feel the need to make questions into felonies? I would think that if you didn't like your pediatrician asking about your guns, you would take your business elsewhere without having to be told to do so. But I guess that's just me. I guess that, not being a parent myself, I wouldn't understand. I just can't really empathize with the anger that a parent would feel when someone takes an interest in their child's well-being. I guess that if you've never had to be the one to stand up to this kind of tyranny, to look fascism in the eye and cry out, with tremulous voice, "If my kids want to shoot themselves or each other, it's none of your goddamm business!" then you just wouldn't really get how important this bill is.
Marion Hammer, executive director of United Sportsmen of Florida and a former national NRA president, said the gun rights groups have no opposition to a physician's office handing out brochures on gun safety, but the direct questioning on whether there are guns in the home of a patient and how they store them goes too far.
That is really just beyond the pale! Have these doctors no decency? Doctors might routinely ask about your sex life, or whether you're pooping regularly, or various questions about your lady cycle, but asking if you own a gun! What is this world coming to? Have they no shame?
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