RIP ‘Docs vs. Glocks’ — and good riddance

Florida’s so-called “Docs vs. Glocks” law is officially dead. The demise of this illconceived — and unconstitutional — law is very good news.

Florida has had any number of unnecessary and bad gun laws. Docs vs. Glocks, which essentially tried to stop doctors from asking patients about guns in their homes, had to be near the top of that list.

After six years in the courts, during which time the law didn’t go into effect, the deadline for a final appeal passed last month. Attorney General Pam Bondi didn’t appeal an appellate court ruling that struck down the law, and Docs vs. Glocks quietly died.

Originally called the Firearms Owners’ Privacy Act of 2011, the law included a series of restrictions on doctors and other health providers. The law came about in response to a pediatrician telling an Ocala mother to find a new doctor because she refused to answer questions about guns in the family’s home.

Not only did the law prevent physicians from entering information about gun ownership into medical records, the law also said doctors couldn’t ask patients if they had guns in their home unless the physicians believed in “good faith” the information was “relevant” to medical care or safety.

In other words, if you had young children in your home, the doctor couldn’t even ask if you had a gun and kept it safely stored.

As you might expect, the National Rifle Association was all in favor of this law.

The law immediately wound up in the courts, and for the past six years the state of Florida has pushed for it, while many health care providers and organizations were against it. A federal district judge blocked the law from going into effect, and earlier this year the full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck it down. The decision by the state not to appeal made it official. RIP Docs vs. Glocks.

Remember, doctors weren’t talking about confiscating guns. They just wanted to know that people were keeping guns out of the reach of children, or anyone who might be depressed. And they argued that being told by the state what they could discuss with patients in privacy violated their First Amendment rights.

“It affects the health and lives of children and people who are depressed and suicidal,” we were told by Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. As a friend of the court, Simon represented seven different organizations in fighting the law, including the Broward County Pediatric Society and the Broward County Medical Association. “It’s an area of free speech that intersects with public health. The law basically gagged doctors from doing their sacred mission.”

Consider this a victory not only for the First Amendment, but also for common sense. It was the first law of its kind in the United States, and Simon is convinced “we were being used as a test case by the NRA. (If the law was upheld), it would have been introduced into every legislature in the country.

“It’s yet another example of how the courts have rescued the people in Florida from the extremism of their own legislature.”

It’s also another example that pro-gun laws, normally a slam-dunk in the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature, might face more opposition than expected. This past legislative session, lawmakers filed a host of bills that would let people carry guns just about anywhere, including college campuses and courthouses and airport terminals. The bills died mainly because they weren’t supported by Republican Sen. Anitere Flores of Miami, the Senate’s second highest-ranking member.

The NRA will continue to have plenty of clout in Tallahassee, but at least for now the conversation doesn’t always favor the gun lobby. Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, was one of the House sponsors of the original law, and he believes the effort was worthwhile even thought it was was struck down by the courts. And, according to the News Service of Florida, he didn’t rule out lawmakers taking up the measure again in the future.

Bad move. Lawmakers should just let Docs vs. Glocks rest in peace, where it belongs.

Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Andrew Abramson, Elana Simms, Gary Stein and Editor-in-Chief Howard Saltz.