Comments on: Should Doctors Have Guns?

By: air

air — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:55:27 +0000

well, its really a nice topic……. i am a physician myself…. n know how the attitudes of patients have been changing with times…….don’t know why , but the trust has rapidly fallen n patient constantly views the doctor with suspicion.if doctors were to keep firearms, i dont think it will add anyhow to the already high suspicion……. only the chances are that people wil have to think before manually harming the doctor.afterall, everybody has a right to selfdefence
as from the patient point of view, i think when i used to visit my doctors before i myself became one, i knew well that they dont need arms to harm me…. a wrong prescription would be enough if they intended to do so.so knowing that he posseses a gun wont make any difference…..
in the end i would like to say onething… that training as a physician and years of residency and patient care somehow instill the “do no harm” quality so deep into the soul of doctors… that fundamentally they can’t be offensive…. so i beleive for most of them the situation has to be extreme to even think of using a gun……

By: Robb Allen

Robb Allen — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:25:48 +0000

Kent, I assume you’re meaning someone else. I’m quite aware that crime does not increase with CCW. I know I’ve not committed crimes with mine!

By: Kent

Kent — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:06:56 +0000

Come on Robb, if guys like you would get smart you would find out that where the law abiding citizen has concealed carry permits the crime rate drops.

But you can’t get this kind of information from the drive by media. You have to go looking for it.

By: JMKC

JMKC — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 07:46:07 +0000

I think it’s reprehensible that physicians, some of whom are responsible for committing acts of what is considered workplace violence (verbal, physical, etc) want to be protected themselves with firearms, and, yet, most hospital workers are not protected in the same way against violence and firearms.
They remind me of the celebrities who support gun bans, and have armed themselves or armed bodyguards at all times.
Hippocracy!

By: P.

P. — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 00:58:01 +0000

I recently read where 10% of all physicians are drug addicts. Because of those kinds of statistics I do not think physicians should have guns anywhere around patients.

By: Tina

Tina — Wed, 28 May 2008 09:45:50 +0000

Doctors should not have guns.

By: bookmoth

bookmoth — Sat, 17 May 2008 06:30:32 +0000

If I were a patient, I think it would be kind of scary to know that my doctor who I am seeing has a gun in his office. I think it would be scary not because of the gun itself, but because of the fact that the environment could actually warrant firearms.

If the environment is dangerous to warrant the kind of protection a firearm provides, then the doctor is negligent in NOT having a firearm. I’m trusting the doctor with mt physical safety by going to see him or her when I’m ill, expecting him or her to cure me. Is it that so far different from assuming that he can provide me a safe environment underwhich the examination can take place?

By: Xavier

Xavier — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:18:29 +0000

Oh, and by the way, the photo you have chosen of a yokel carrying a handgun is insulting.

Perhaps you believe the photo is one of a doctor carrying a gun. If so, it is fitting, but incorrect. If you are attempting to potray people who carry guns as lunatics, the photo is a good indicator of that intent. If that is not your intent, you need to change it. It would still be incorrect.

Want to know what people who CCW look like? They look just like you, or the person next to you. They look like your best friend. They look like normal, everyday human beings, not a person in post-Katrina New Orleans tryting to protect their property. Oh, yes…….that is what your photo depicts.

By: Khornet

Khornet — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:18:28 +0000

I’m a physician who carries at all times. No one has a right to inflict death or serious harm on innocents, and I have a right (and a duty) to stop the attack if I can.

We docs aren’t dealing with a normal population. While most folks we see are perfectly normal, the nature of our work, in whatever branch of medicine, brings us into contact with plenty of not-so-normal types.

But even if I were a plumber I would carry. I have the right to defend myself, period.

By: That Dude

That Dude — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:27:01 +0000

Doctors need to set up their offices where the patients are. My pediatrician’s office is in a real crappy part of town because that’s where he’s needed. I would be okay knowing he was armed because that’s the environment he practices. In fact, I would be surprised to learn that he’s NOT carrying. He’s offering a vital service to a severely, economically challenged area. I also think teachers should be armed or at least trained in every aspect of police work, especially those working in inner city schools. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.

By: The Arizona Rifleman

The Arizona Rifleman — Tue, 13 May 2008 09:00:53 +0000

Should Doctors Have Guns?…

JC, MD asks that very question.
My response: “Of course.”
Every person has a right to life, which implies that every person has a right to defend his or her life from harm.
One of the principles of a physician is “first, do no harm……

By: Tennessee Budd

Tennessee Budd — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:43:40 +0000

I’d feel a lot more comfortable if I knew my doctor had a firearm handy. I haven’t asked; I know, when I go, that at least one of us is armed.
Doctors are supposed to save lives, if possible. When a violent situation occurs, the choice is to stop it (as one may do when armed), or tacitly cooperate (which is all an unarmed person can do).

By: jlbraun

jlbraun — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:21:20 +0000

I would be completely fine with it. In fact, I would be *more likely* to go to a doctor that carried a firearm in his office than one that did not.

A few hunting/shooting gun magazines in the waiting room are a nice touch to see in a doc’s office.

By: Evan

Evan — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:52:20 +0000

If I were a patient, I think it would be kind of scary to know that my doctor who I am seeing has a gun in his office. I think it would be scary not because of the gun itself, but because of the fact that the environment could actually warrant firearms.

Many people don’t realize they are virtually always in environments that “warrant firearms.” They are largely ignorant to the risks (albeit usually low risks) that are present.

Sometimes they’re oblivious to the possibility of anything going wrong.

Sometimes it’s denial that anything could happen to them.

Of course, many people realize, to some degree, there’s risks in everything. Then the issue is what to do about it.

For some, it’s a calculated gamble that despite the risks, it’s not worth the hassle to take certain precautions.

Others think that someone else will stop the problem (911+cops) if one crops up.

And finally, others take responsibility for their own safety keeping tools, such as firearms, on hand to deal with possible (albeit usually unlikely) situations.

Personally, I’m fine with those in that last group. I don’t think everyone, or even a majority, should be in that last group. A lot of folks simply aren’t mature and knowledgeable enough to do it safely…even many doctors aren’t.

Carrying a gun safely requires control of temper, avoidance of elective situations that might knowingly increase the changes you’ll need to use a gun for self defense, and proper gun handling techniques (including not handling a gun when there’s absolutely no need to be futzing with it).

In the end, if the doctor feels a need for self defense tools, then A OK by me. Who am I to make judgments about the value of other people’s lives, by denying they any and all reasonable tools to protect themselves with….yes I view a firearm as a reasonable tool for some situations.

By: Keith Walker

Keith Walker — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:46:31 +0000

If I were a patient, I think it would be kind of scary to know that my doctor who I am seeing has a gun in his office. I think it would be scary not because of the gun itself, but because of the fact that the environment could actually warrant firearms.

I do not understand this statement at all. If the environment warrants firearms, then wouldn’t you want your doctor to be armed? I get the idea that you do not want to face the fact that a hospital or doctor’s office DOES warrant firearms. Ignoring this fact just adds to the body count. I speak from experience.

My wife’s Bible study teacher was shot and killed outside of her office last month. You can read a little about her story here.
http://evidenceministries.blogspot.com/2008/04/in-memory-of-julie-abbott.html

Hospitals are “gun free zones” in Texas. That sure did a lot of good didn’t it?