If Mommy Is A Commie Then You Gotta Turn Her In…

Back in the early sixties when folk music was the rage, there was a group called the Chad Mitchell Trio that recorded a song called “The John Birch Society.” It was a great song. Some of the lyrics stated:

Oh, we’re the John Birch Society, the John Birch Society

Here to save our country from a communistic plot

Join the John Birch Society holding off the Reds

We’ll use our hand and hearts and if we must we’ll use our heads

Do you want Justice Warren for your Commissar?

Do you want Mrs. Krushchev in there with the DAR?

You cannot trust your neighbor or even next of kin

If mommie is a commie then you gotta turn her in.

It was a great song, with some really good harmony. The last line illustrates the way I feel about one aspect of President Obama’s new gun control policy initiative. Any conversation I have with my lawyer is considered confidential by law. My children’s medical records are not accessible to me once my children are eighteen. There are measures taken to protect the privacy of medical patients with certain diseases. Why then are doctors being asked to rat out their patients who have guns?

The Weekly Standard posted an article today outlining the President’s gun control policy concerning the role of doctors.

The article states:

Protect the rights of health care providers to talk to their patients about gun safety: Doctors and other health care providers also need to be able to ask about firearms in their patients’ homes and safe storage of those firearms, especially if their patients show signs of certain mental illnesses or if they have a young child or mentally ill family member at home. Some have incorrectly claimed that language in the Affordable Care Act prohibits doctors from asking their patients about guns and gun safety. Medical groups also continue to fight against state laws attempting to ban doctors from asking these questions. The Administration will issue guidance clarifying that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit or otherwise regulate communication between doctors and patients, including about firearms.

The law further states that there should be no restriction on doctors and healthcare officials warning law enforcement about threats of violence. Another part of the law states, “We should never ask doctors and other health care providers to turn a blind eye to the risks posed by guns in the wrong hands.” Exactly what does that mean?

In theory this may seem like a good idea, but the intrusiveness of the law is breathtaking. The federal government is telling your doctor what to talk to you about. If you are a legal gun owner, that is no one’s business but your own. Again, how is this going to stop a disturbed person from shooting up a movie theater or a school?

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