Mad science: Gun-law demise worries ''health experts''

Health experts are concerned that the demise of the assault weapons ban will result in more gunshot victims and increased trauma costs, CBS.MarketWatch.Com reported Sept. 22.

Officials said that the ban helped to make injury prevention a national priority. But with the expiration of the ban, "we're going back to viewing this as a purely criminal-justice issue and not a public-health issue," said Dr. Katherine Kaufer Christoffel, a professor of pediatrics and preventive medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. "I think that's a mistake, a turn in the wrong direction."

Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said that allowing the ban to lapse was poor public policy. "We went to war over keeping weapons of mass destruction away from this country, and yet we leave weapons of mass destruction in the hands of kids and criminals. I just don't understand it."

Commentary:
It probably comes as little surprise that this report comes to us from CBS News.

One thing is for certain, the doctor truly doesn't understand the law, since he claims lifting the ban will "leave weapons of mass destruction in the hands of kids and criminals." Not one kid or criminal will now be able to purchase a rifle that was formerly banned, and if this doctor doesn't know that, he shouldn't be providing comment on the subject.

Not all physicians have come under the spell of the gun ban lobby. Those Ohioans fighting battles against a misinformed medical community would do well to consider the words of Dr. Timothy M. Billups, MD, FACEP, who submitted written testimony in support of HB12. Billups is a "residency trained, Board Certified Emergency Medicine physician" with "nine years of clinical experience in several Emergency Departments in the Cleveland and Akron areas".

For an even greater resource, check out Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws which is a collaborative effort by members of KeepAndBearArms.com.

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