Comments on: Should Doctors Have Guns?

By: Brooklyn

Brooklyn — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:15:00 +0000

several points, some of which have been made already :
as a doctor, If i would choose to harm someone I do not need a gun or any other commonly recognized weapon to do so. As a person in my place of business I would consider it my JOB to attempt to limit and diffuse/avoid all violence if possible. If that takes a kabaar knife so be it. If its a glock so be it. I don’s wear either but that doesnt mean I do not look out for my patient’s safety by other means. To to original poster and any others… would it bother you if you knew your doctor was a martial artist trained to kill with his bare hands, or former military special forces? I know several who are one , the other, or both. Does the method change your fear?
Please reply without extensive use of “for instance” examples. Accidents happen, people get hurt. If that is a basic fear you have, don’t leave the house… or maybe do… the roof may fall.

By: AJMD

AJMD — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:12:39 +0000

“i feel a gun is to dangerous and so is a police baton but the baton would be hard to kill or seriously injure someone with it” – I’m sure a 60 year old 115 pound female physician would not ’seriously injure’ a 240 pound male aggressor with a police baton! I’d prefer she STOP him, instantly, whether with a magic spell or a .44 Magnum.

By: Wiggy Wiggy

Wiggy Wiggy — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:27:59 +0000

That is one of the most stupid things I’ve ever heard. Doctors should not have guns. If they hunt, they could have a gun and keep it at home, but anytime at their work, they should not have guns. Their job is to help people not scare them away!

By: Justin Levis

Justin Levis — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:18:05 +0000

I think doctors should not have guns, but i think they should have a police baton or something similar. i feel a gun is to dangerous and so is a police baton but the baton would be hard to kill or seriously injure someone with it

By: Kristopher

Kristopher — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:34:59 +0000

Rustmeister:

The sad fact is, people can “flip out” anywhere, at any time. Like the fire extinguisher and seat belt analogies, not being prepared for conflict is what leads to disaster.

Active killers don’t just start shooting at random when they flip out. They plan ahead, once they make the decision to climb the clocktower, and realize that the police, and possibly their victims will try to stop them. They deliberately choose schools, malls, and churches because often CCW is forbidden there.

By: Sigalert

Sigalert — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:10:02 +0000

I think it would be scary not because of the gun itself, but because of the fact that the environment could actually warrant firearms.

All environments could potentially warrant the use of firearms. Even my own home. Odds are, you are quite safe in your everyday travels. There’s always the deviation to worry about.

Making the assumption a place is safe doesn’t make it so.

By: Asheley

Asheley — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 15:09:39 +0000

I think that it is fine that doctors have a gun in their office. I think they are responsible and respectful enough professionals to be able to have a gun at hand for their protection. Personally, I have never heard a news story about there about a disgruntled or disturbed patient assulting a doctor, but that does not mean it doesn’t happen.

As long as these doctor’s are not advertising that they are carrying this gun on their rounds, in surgery, in the cafeteria..I don’t see it as a problem. Noone who is in the hospital wants to see a doctor with a gun. Just keep in out of the eye of the public. They have a right to “self-defense” just like any of the rest of us. We may not know, but surely there are doctors out there who are already carrying a gun and no one has a clue. Most of the time the doctors are dealing with patients who may not be mentally stable or in their right state of mind in which a violent situation could occur.

If a doctor feels the need to carry a gun to protect himself/herself who are we the public to tell them that they cannot? They have the right to personal protection just like any of the rest of us. If an emergency arises, they wouldl be able to protect their other patients and staff. Like I said I don’t want to see it but have absolutely no problem knowing that my physician is packing.

By: Amit

Amit — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:33:38 +0000

It depends on situation like, a doctor with lots of money and patient from wide range in society may require gum to protect him self but in general doctor is a respectful profession and they don’t need gun.

By: AJMD

AJMD — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:57:53 +0000

About one in twelve adults has a concealed carry permit in Indiana, so in a typical day I would expect to see an average of two patients carrying concealed weapons. It would be rather ludicrous to expect they’d leave them unattended in their car, or only have them when their magic powers informed them THAT was the day/place they’d need one.

If the physician truly believes in protecting life, which we would HOPE is the case, it would seem a natural extention that they would approve of, and perhaps employ, means to do so which aren’t all within the realm of their professional practice.

We tend to forget that in the ‘old days’ when even teenagers could purchase ‘military style semiautomatic rifles’ via mail-order catalog, and it was commonplace to have guns in schools for everything from rifle team practice, after-school hunting, or just ’show and tell’, there weren’t the problems we see today with violence. Violence isn’t rampant now because of guns; it is rampant as a result of forty years of not holding anyone accountable for their actions, welfare-state economics, and our symbolic yet disasterous ‘war on drugs.’

Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws – http://www.dsgl.org

By: Brent G.

Brent G. — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:42:11 +0000

There are several issues at play here. Should the physician be permitted, or feel okay, about keeping a firearm at his or her office? Absolutely! Doctors should be safe in their business and have the basic human right of self defense just like anyone else. But I do not think the firearm should be stored there. The firearm should go where the physician goes. Leaving it unsecured, or at least out of the immediate-, or near-control, of the doctor creates its own issues. Any other staff, though if experienced with a gun, should be able to have access to this vital self defense tool if necessary.
As far as doctors as a group, most every physician I know owns firearms. If they don’t hunt, they keep one at their home for self defense and many shoot skeet, trap or sporting clays, the latter one of the fastest growing sports in the U.S.
Bottom line. A physician need not advertise to his or her patients that the firearm is present. Its none of their business. But in an emergency, like an automated CPR unit, or even someone trained in CPR, it is far more likely to be used to save the lives of many than to be used to hurt.

By: MDwithCCW

MDwithCCW — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 06:11:45 +0000

As a doctor, I welcome patients and patient family members in my office who carry. It just means that someone might have the ability to “have my back” if the SHTF. I also welcome people who carry cell phones for emergency use, bring their knitting, or a good book to read while they wait. The gun is just a tool–properly respected and used, no less safe.
The issue never comes up at 99+% of my clinic visits. If you show up in a Winchester shirt, wearing a Glock hat or open carrying in my office, I will bring it up and greet you as a brother.
Personally, as a sometime patient, I want to know if my doctor knows his/her medicine or has good surgical skills. Whether they carry a gun, wear ladies lingerie or French kiss their dog doesn’t bother me if they can make me better.

By: BambiB

BambiB — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 05:05:40 +0000

If the fact that doctors kill more than 3 times as many people through medical misadventure as die by gunfire doesn’t put your patients off, why should a gun?

Do you propose to advertise its presence? Do you currently advertise that YOU are statistically FAR more dangerous than the average firearm to the well-being of your… customers?

Do you wave your fire extinguisher around for every new patient and announce, “If there’s a fire… I’m ready!!”???

If you want to have the means to protect yourself, your staff and your patients from whatever violent vicissitudes of life may visit themselves upon your office, get a gun and learn how to use it.

If you don’t give a crap, then don’t bother. Just continue to be a passive bystander in events which may some day turn deadly for you or one you care about. And if some day your world turns to violent shit, remember the moment (if you survive) when you think to yourself, “I wish I’d had a gun.”

By: Mack

Mack — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:51:15 +0000

Dude…if you want one you should have one. If decorum concerns ya…put it in the pocket of that nice clean white smock you fellers wear. Or, ankle holster. No one need know if you so chose.

By: joe

joe — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:27:26 +0000

Oh, and one more thing. Sorry that the Wendy Weinbaum troll has followed us here do your site. I am almost certain that he follows these stories from the links on keeandbeararms.com. I really wish he would come back to reality and realize that he is not a she and that he is not a Jew. Also, the unoriginal cutting and pasting of an unoriginal message is getting to be annoying.

By: joe

joe — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:22:11 +0000

Well, cops have guns. The average cop has just above an average IQ. Police organizations want applicants to have an average intelligence and nothing better. Bright officers gets bored. This increases costs. Read this if you think I am making this up (federal court upholds i.q. discrimination in hiring police officers):

http://www.siop.org/tip/backissues/TipJan00/21Demonte.aspx

In addition, most officers have an associate’s degree, at best. Most of the old-timers have no college education at all. The fact is that cops, with their demonstrated low I.Q.s and lack of education, generally handle guns fine. It is my opinion that doctors can do just as well, or better. If I didn’t trust my doctor with a gun I wouldn’t see him at all.