Twice now this weekend I've run into posts here at THR mentioning websites that quote the American Academy of Pediatrics in justifying a strong anti-gun stance.
From the AAPs policy:Other related AAP "safety" material is here and here.1. The AAP affirms that the most effective measure to prevent firearm-related injuries to children and adolescents is the absence of guns from homes and communities.
a) Firearm regulation, to include bans of handguns and assault weapons, is the most effective way to reduce firearm-related injuries.
b) Pediatricians and other child health care professionals are urged to inform parents about the dangers of guns in and outside the home. The AAP recommends that pediatricians incorporate questions about guns into their patient history taking and urge parents who possess guns to remove them, especially handguns, from the home. Loaded firearms and unlocked firearms and ammunition represent a serious danger to children and adolescents. At especially high risk are adolescents who have a history of aggressive and violent behaviors, suicide attempts, or depression.
The "educational materials" continue to use discredited "facts", like the Kellerman 1986 study that claimed that a firearm kept in the home was 43 times more likely "to kill" someone in the home than an intruder. The fallacy of this claim (and the intransigence of the New England Journal of Medicine in publishing any crticism of the study) has been detailed by Gary Kleck, John Lott, Dave Kopel, and others.
Funny: in some aspects, the AAP's attitude seems "reasonable:"Note that this is, perhaps, not very different than what I might ask a gun-owning friend before sending my kid over to his home to play--"All the guns secured? Just checking." Anyone can use a reminder.If a gun is accessible in someone's home, there is a good chance a child will find it and play with it.
So...ASK if there is a gun before sending your child over to play...
If the answer is YES...You have to determine if your child's safety is at risk. Guns should be kept in a gun safe with the ammunition locked separately or they pose a real risk to your child. Hiding guns is not enough. There are countless tragic stories of kids finding guns that parents thought were well hidden or safely stored. If you have any doubts about the safety of someone's home, you should politely invite the children to play at your house instead.
But they don't clearly say that, if the guns are secured, then all's well--they seem to me to imply that any home where there are guns...well, your kids can't be safe there.
And other aspects are less reasonable. For example, there is the aspect that they are not content to marshal all pediatricians as anti-gun evangelists; they want to enlist all parents. And the AAP's policy paper says:Now, sure, they haven't amended the statement since DC v Heller--hey, maybe they don't think they should!--but shouldn't it strike us as odd that they're not advocating safe behavior (whatever that might be) here; instead, doctors are giving their legal opinion that it should be possible to ban "whole categories of weapons?"Several legal reviews emphasize that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual's gun ownership. Two cases, Presser v Illinois and United States v Miller, have established the meaning of the Second Amendment.59,60 These and later federal court rulings have indicated that the "right" to bear arms is linked to the preservation of state militias and is not intended to provide for an individual's right to own a firearm. The federal government could ban whole categories of firearms, such as handguns and assault weapons.
Okay. Long introduction. Obviously, I have no use for the AAP. My questions are:
1. Have you run into intrusive questions or over-reaching recommendations from you kid's (s') pediatrician?
2. Have you run into other parents--this might be hard to tell--not letting their kids come over after asking you about GUNS?
3. If another parent asks you about guns in the house (has it happened?) what do you say? Do you hide all the American Riflemen mags, antlers, and other "gun perphernalia" when school-dads and -moms come over?