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Gun Owner Rights and Obamacare - Yes It Is In The Law

National Rifle Association

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Whenever news breaks of tragedies like the Aurora massacre, my heart goes out to the victims, their families, and another group – the medical response team. In the emergency department, we face the results of violence day in and day out.  Run of the mill gunshot wounds are bad enough, but dealing with dozens of people gunned down senselessly at once is beyond the limits of my imagination. As the caretakers in these situations, we have to reach deep into our physical and mental reserves to maintain our sense of control. We get through it and never get over it.

In medical training, physicians are taught to screen for potential violence. It is amazing how many people will tell you if they are homicidal or suicidal – you just have to ask. As an extension, we ask about access to guns. If a suicidal or homicidal person has access to guns, they are more likely to use that implement to initiate their violent act. This is why we are trained to ask that question.

One of the best methods to defuse potential violence is heartfelt conversation. By openly questioning each other in a non-judgmental manner, we can often discover a person’s pain, motives, and ability to act. Unfortunately, the gun rights lobby, mostly funded by the National Rifle Association, has time and time again inserted their hand in attempting to shut down that conversation.

In the Affordable Care Act, the gun lobby’s section is in Title X, starting on page 2,037, line 23.  “Protection of Second Amendment Gun Rights” contains five provisions mostly dedicated to shutting down conversation about guns in medicine.  What do these sections contain?

Wellness and prevention programs may not require the disclosure or collection of information relating to the presence or storage of a lawfully possessed firearm or the use of a firearm.  At least the law didn’t say we couldn’t ask about it, we just have to do it clandestinely.

The next provision states we can’t collect data related to owning or using firearms. So we can’t write it down? Sounds like an effective way to stifle research related to gun violence so we can no longer prove that easier access to guns increases the risk of mass violence.

Provision three states we can’t use or maintain records of individual ownership or possession of firearms or ammunition. I’m fine with that not being allowed in medicine, but that information should be tracked somewhere. A person amassing an arsenal should raise an eyebrow.

Provision four limits the ability to determine rates or eligibility for health insurance based on gun ownership. Now why is that even in there? Title I of the ACA states that insurance will be guaranteed issue so no one can be turned down. Even if they own enough guns to hunt every squirrel in the United States, they will qualify for health insurance. Just so the gun owners have the correct information, rates are based on only four factors – age, location, number of family members, and smoking status. Wait – guns smoke, so maybe they thought that was meant for gun owners.

The final provision related to gun owners is that individuals do not have to disclose they own a gun. We know you can’t make people tell the truth, but fortunately most people in the throes of mental anguish and considering violence will tell the truth when asked.

In Florida last year, the legislature and governor passed a law backed by the National Rifle Association that would penalize physicians if they asked a patient about gun access and ownership except in the case of emergencies. Is that before or after the emergency happens? Fortunately, the law was recently ruled unconstitutional by a sane judge appointed by President Bush.

I’m certain the NRA doesn’t want guns to be used for killing people and it is fine that they want to protect gun owner’s rights.  But as pointed out in the Twitterverse, I doubt our founding fathers considered assault weapons as the alternative to their quaint muzzle loaded muskets.

It seems the NRA’s best interest would be served by promoting responsible gun ownership, including doctors having conversations with patients regarding guns in the home and unfettered research on guns and violence. By promoting healthy conversation and research instead of giving politicians millions to stifle it, they could go a long way toward appeasing the public who want responsible gun ownership.

Questions, comments, suggestions? Post here, or on Twitter @CarolynMcC, or Carolyn.mcclanahan@gmail.com.

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  • Mark Gibbs Mark Gibbs 2 years ago

    Great article Carolyn. A conversation does need to be had and I am torn on the issue. I’m not a gun lover, don’t own a gun and can’t imagine why anybody would want to or NEED to own an assault rifle. I also have to respect a person’s right to “bear arms”. On another note, I read an article recently that stated alcohol-related deaths outnumber gun-related deaths by 100-1. If that’s the case, where is the outrage regarding irresponsible alcohol use? Should we reinstate prohibition b/c people drink to excess and make poor decisions? Why does gun violence always seem to get all the press?

  • Vicki Homer Vicki Homer 2 years ago

    At some point, the NRA is going to be held responsible for the increasing commonness of mass shootings in America. It’s those awful assault weapons which makes it so easy to kill dozens in a matter of a few seconds.

    The NRA is out of control — because they’ve bought off most of congress, and scared off the rest of congress. So face it — these mass murders are on the increase in America, because they are less important to the NRA than making a profit off the sale of arms.

    Where did you, Mark, get that ratio of alcohol-related deaths compared to gun-related deaths? On the internet, I could only find that as an unsubstantiated claim made by an anonymous poster on another site.

    Whereas my source for this info is given:

    The Washington, D.C.-based Violence Policy Center says Nevada is one of 10 states where guns deaths were greater than traffic deaths. The other states are Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, Oregon, Utah, Virginia and Washington.


    In Nevada, 406 gun deaths were reported in 2009, compared with 255 people who died in motor vehicle accidents.

    Nationally, there were 31,236 firearm deaths and 36,361 motor vehicle deaths in 2009.

    The [above] report cites data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    I only knew two people well who were shot to death — one a child playing with a gun, the other my next door neighbor in a terrible hunting accident.

    But, having lived in East Tennessee, where most people own guns, and far too many people abuse drugs, a sizeable fraction of my neighbors have been shot, but not fatally. (I admit, as a teenager, I got shot — flesh wound — when a bunch of us were fooling around in the woods with antique pistols — it was just a ricochet off a boulder, though.)

    Bearing arms, yes, but why assault weapons? What’s the “sport” in being able to kill a bunch of people quickly? When will the NRA stop pushing the access to increasingly dangerous weapons, just so arms dealers can make more money? Tanks? Bombs?

  • Bill Stearns Bill Stearns 2 years ago

    The NRA is an organization backed by people, millions of people who don’t want their rights taken away by an overreaching government. You make them out to be some big scary out of control monster but they’re not. They’re people just like you only they think more independently than you do.

  • Carolyn McClanahan Carolyn McClanahan, Contributor 2 years ago

    In the alcohol related deaths, many are self-inflicted – dying of abuse. But still, I agree there should be more outrage about alcohol related deaths. The alcoholic beverage makers do promote responsible drinking – all I’m asking is the NRA support medical education to the public regarding guns in the home, and preserve physicians rights to ask about gun safety. Thanks for the thoughtful comments.

  • Carolyn McClanahan Carolyn McClanahan, Contributor 2 years ago

    Great points. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

  • pensive pensive 2 years ago

    “Nationally, there were 31,236 firearm deaths and 36,361 motor vehicle deaths in 2009″… so why are you upset at doctors not asking everyone if they own a car?

  • Carolyn McClanahan Carolyn McClanahan, Contributor 2 years ago

    I just want the right to educate patients about the dangers of guns and to help prevent suicides and homicides. It is clear from the ACA that the NRA wants to take that right away from me.

  • Vicki Homer Vicki Homer 2 years ago

    Common sense suggests that far more people commit homicide and suicide using guns than by using cars. Thank goodness, laws put into effect over the past several decades have reduced vehicular deaths in America.

    Just as impressive, gun control laws have also been effective in reducing the number of people being shot to death in America. Shooting deaths peaked in the early 1990′s.

    We continue to insist on car manufacturers making cars safer to drive. Were it not for the NRA, we’d be equally as interested in making guns safer, as well.

    Why do you think that police are so adamant about banning assault weapons? Police officers wherever I’ve lived do not tend to be a bunch of left-leaning liberals, by any means. But they themselves are high targets for being shot by assault weapons and bullet-vest-piercing ammo.

    But those who control the NRA are the ones profiting from the sales of these weapons. They are more interested in keeping those profits than in protecting our police and our citizenry in general.

    (Few of the millions of NRA members — several of whom are good friends of mine — have a clue as to the financial motives of those who RUN the NRA.)

  • Carolyn,
    Thanks for having the gumption to address this issue. The NRA is an organization that holds our country hostage to their version of rights. They use the strength of the almighty $ to force feed their sales pitch to the masses. The NRA shamelessly attacks accountability and common sense is thrown out of the window in the name of guns rights and their providers (Remington, Smith & Wesson…etc etc). This group refuses to discuss the problems with assault weapons- they are what they look like, a special interest group backed by product salesmen pretending to care about consumers rights- How about the victims families rights??? The NRA isn’t about anything else but sales. This gun owner is embarrassed by the NRA and the puppets that flock to it. Keep up the great work!!! Ignorance is Bliss, Knowledge is power!

  • Carolyn McClanahan Carolyn McClanahan, Contributor 2 years ago

    Thank you for the comments. All I’m asking for is the ability to have a conversation, and it is in everyone’s best interest to have open and honest communication regarding guns. We do it with cigarettes, drugs, fatty foods, and anything else that can be harmful to health. It would seem the NRA would recognize that encouraging conversation would decrease the polarization they face. I’ll keep plugging for the day it happens…