Medical Journal: “Maintaining a home environment that contains weapons…arguably constitutes elder mistreatment”

In another volley of gun control propaganda, a commentary was published in the journal, Annals of Internal Medicine, in which a physician states that steps must be taken to protect the elderly from the possibility of accident or injury with guns.

Dr. Marshall Kapp, who is the director of the Center for Innovative Collaboration in Medicine and Law at Florida State University College of Medicine, believes that proper medical care of the elderly includes questioning them about whether or not they own guns, and then discussing with their families whether or not their firearms should be confiscated. If the family refuses to take away the elderly person’s guns upon the doctor’s recommendation, Dr. Kapp believes that the police should then be contacted.

Doctors who treat older adults should routinely ask patients whether they have access to guns, Kapp said. In some cases, doctors may need to take action to ensure patients will not harm themselves or others, including speaking with family members about either removing the gun from the home, or storing it under lock and key, Kapp said…

Discussions with family members about confiscating a gun are, in a sense, similar to conversations that doctors already have about restricting or eliminating driving or cooking for some older patients, Kapp said.

If families are unwilling to cooperate, doctors may need to turn to the law for help, Kapp said. Failure to address firearm safety for adults who are at substantial risk for harm can be considered a form of neglect that should be reported to the Adult Protective Services agency, Kapp said.

“Maintaining a home environment that contains weapons that pose a significant risk of danger to an older person who can’t protect him or herself, arguably constitutes elder mistreatment,” Kapp said. (source)

This stealth gun control measure leaves the decision-making process entirely in the hands of a physician, whose choices will clearly be biased based upon his or her personal beliefs about guns. These decisions are not based on anything quantifiable or measurable. There are no standards, no testing, or no qualifiers that can be implemented.

With this philosophy, older Americans can lose their right to defend themselves based on nothing more than an arbitrary opinion.