|
AMA President Targets Your Guns
|
"...it appears the AMA is quite comfortable with getting
involved with the debate over gun control - a debate that
has nothing to do with medicine..." |
|
AMA's
Dr. Corlin |
Doctors for
Responsible
Gun Ownership's
Dr. Tim Wheeler |
Dr. Richard Corlin, the American Medical Association's (AMA) new
President, has decided the nation's most well-known doctor's
group should openly admit that it has expanded its scope to
include political activism in the firearm debate.
The
pronouncement was made Wednesday at the AMA's annual meeting in
Chicago, and according to a June 20 Associated Press article, the
decision has caused concern that the organization is diving too
deeply into the political agenda.
Of course, the AMA has often
supported attacks on our Right to Keep and Bear Arms, while
ignoring the many positive aspects of gun ownership, primarily
self defense, and the group has been listed on
the NRA-ILA
Anti-Gun Support Fact Sheet for many years.
The AMA's persistent anti-gun views have already led to the
formation of doctors' groups opposed to attacks on law-abiding
gun owners, such as
Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership (DRGO).
AMA's latest announcement will likely exacerbate the group's own
sickness, a declining membership that also means declining
revenue from membership dues.
NRA's Dr. Blackman |
While Corlin claimed he is merely
interested in the AMA promoting more "research," NRA research
coordinator Dr. Paul Blackman commented that Corlin's platform is
merely a "smokescreen," and his true intention is to have the AMA
begin to promote gun control even more aggressively than it has
in the past.
Perhaps the AMA should take a lesson from its own past. In 1999,
the doctor's group fired George D. Lundberg, who had been the
editor of its Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)
for 17 years, because Lundberg had allowed an article to be
published that came to the conclusion that Bill Clinton thinks
like an adolescent when it comes to defining sex. In 1999, the
AMA felt that such actions "threatened the historic tradition and
integrity of the [journal] by inappropriately and inexcusably
interjecting JAMA into a major political debate that has nothing
to do with science or medicine."
| |
"...[NRA's] safety programs have led to the lowest rate and number of
firearms-related fatal accidents in U.S. history..." |
|
Today, though, it appears the AMA is quite comfortable with
getting involved with the debate over gun control - a debate that
has nothing to do with medicine. The AMA should be reminded to
practice what it preaches, and stick to its areas of
expertise - healing the sick and injured, eliminating the threat of
disease, and other medical-related issues.
We are all concerned over crime, especially when it leads to
law-abiding citizens being injured by their criminal
attackers - regardless of whether the attacks involve a firearm,
knife, club, or other tool used by criminals. But the debate over
effective means to address crime should be left to those with the
proper expertise.
And if the AMA would like to see fewer
accidents that involve firearms, it should promote proven safety
programs such as those developed by NRA. NRA's commitment to
promoting firearm safety is unsurpassed, as we have upwards of
38,000 NRA Certified Instructors who reach approximately 700,000
people every year with instruction on how to handle firearms
safely and responsibly.
And our award-winning Eddie Eagle
GunSafe® Program has taught more than 15 million children to
avoid firearms when they are not under close, adult supervision.
Our safety programs have led to the lowest rate and number of
firearms-related fatal accidents in U.S. history, and we will
continue to work to drive those numbers even lower.
If you wish to contact the AMA to object to its latest efforts,
you can write to the American Medical Association, 515 N. State
Street, Chicago, Ill. 60610. You can also call (312) 464-5000,
and AMA Members can call (800) AMA-3211. You can also find the
AMA's website at www.ama-assn.org.
Related Stories...
More efforts of the Gun-Ban Lobby
The Gun-Ban Lobby: Dr. Corlin on the AMA Website
1999: JAMA editor fired for politicizing the Journal
|
|
