NRA slapped
Court rules Fla. docs can talk about gun risks
A FEDERAL APPEALS court on Thursday shot down an NRAbacked Florida law that restricted doctors from talking to patients about gun safety.
The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta found that the law violated freedom of speech.
“The Second Amendment right to own and possess firearms does not preclude questions about, commentary on, or criticism for the exercise of that right,” wrote Judge Adalberto Jordan in one of two majority opinions. “There is no actual conflict between the First Amendment rights of doctors and medical professionals and the Second Amendment rights of patients.”
The 2011 so-called “Docs vs. Glocks” law said that doctors could be censored, fined and have their licenses revoked if they asked or talked to patients about their firearms.
The National Rifle Association claimed the law was meant to “stop doctors from interrogating patients about gun ownership and entering gun ownership information into medical databases — thereby creating a de facto database of gun owners.”
It was the only law of its kind in the nation, although similar laws have been considered in other states, and was challenged immediately.
A four-year legal battle ensued as the law wound its way through the courts. Thursday’s 8-to-3 decision overturned an earlier stance by a divided three-judge panel that upheld the law. The decision could be appealed to the Supreme Court.
The ruling was a victory for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and Ropes & Gray, who brought the lawsuit on behalf of doctors who believed the law violated their First Amendment rights.
“The gun lobby and its lap dogs don’t want Americans to know the truth about the danger of guns in the home because it will hurt their bottom line,” said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. “We are pleased the Court recognized Americans have a constitutional right to hear the truth about guns, and the gun lobby has no right to silence doctors or keep patients in the dark.”
The court noted that the law was based on six anecdotes about doctors’ discussions of guns in their exam rooms and little other evidence.
“There was no evidence whatsoever before the Florida Legislature that any doctors or medical professionals have taken away patients’ firearms or otherwise infringed on patients’ Second Amendment rights,” Jordan wrote.