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Report Suggests that Doctors are a Leading Cause of Death

Friday, May 13, 2016

Report Suggests that Doctors are a Leading Cause of Death

Groups claiming to speak for the medical profession have long criticized America’s gun culture in general and NRA in particular. Besides supporting an array of gun controls and suggesting that firearms do not belong in the same communities as children, the groups bewail limitations on the use of public funding for supposed “studies” that in reality are thinly-disguised advocacy pieces with preordained anti-gun conclusions. Even fictional doctors have been coopted into gun control efforts.

But a recent analysis by researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine published in BMJ shockingly concludes that medical mistakes are the third leading cause of death in the U.S. (behind only heart disease and cancer), accounting for more than 250,000 fatalities a year. This is almost ten times the number of annual deaths attributable to firearms, including the some 20,000 that occur by suicide.

Perhaps even more ironically, the study (as an NPR report put it), “highlights how shortcomings in tracking vital statistics may hinder research and keep the problem out of the public eye.” According to the report, the coding system used by the Centers for Disease Control to record death certificate data “doesn't capture things like communication breakdowns, diagnostic errors and poor judgment that cost lives.” The lead author of the Johns Hopkins study, Dr. Martin Makary, claims that this deficit leads to a “vast underrecognition of the place of medical care as the cause of death,” which in turn, “informs all our national health priorities and our research grants.”

So even as doctors are reportedly making mistakes, killing hundreds of thousands of people as a result, and obscuring that fact with faulty data,
they’re pointing the finger at Second Amendment advocates for what their self-appointed spokespersons claim is an epidemic of gun violence. They also criticize Second Amendment supporters for being “anti-science” and supposedly trying to ”muzzle” doctor/patient communication.

That’s ironic, to say the least.

We recognize that medicine has a noble pedigree and purpose, and the miracles of modern healthcare generally lead to better lives for all Americans. Most of us have good relationships with our doctors and appreciate the excellent work they do to save and improve quality of life.

But as a frequent target of high-handed scorn from self-important physicians, we would simply reiterate a point we have made many times in the past. Doctors
should stay out of the firearm debate -- where they have little subject matter or public policy expertise to contribute -- and tend to their own business.

If the BMJ study has any validity,
there is plenty of room for improvement in their own hospitals and clinics, and the potential to save lives with reform in those contexts far outstrips the potential to save lives with politically-motivated gun control. We hope the BMJ study and the publicity it has generated will lead the medical profession to reexamine its priorities and focus inwardly to “first, do no harm,” before pointing the finger at NRA and others who are committed to protecting the Second Amendment. 

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North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly briefly returned from recess and re-referred Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to the House Rules Committee.

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

California officials’ egregious foot-dragging over the issuance of carry permits has finally attracted the ire of the federal Department of Justice (DOJ). 

President Trump’s GOP Leads Polling on Crime and Guns, To No Surprise

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

President Trump’s GOP Leads Polling on Crime and Guns, To No Surprise

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll revealed that Americans know the President Donald Trump-led Republican Party has a better plan than their Democratic Party opponents on crime and gun control.

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Thursday, October 2, 2025

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Yesterday, in Butler v. Bondi, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama held that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives exceeded its statutory authority by issuing its 2024 Final Rule expanding ...

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Friday, October 3, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Yesterday, the National Rifle Association filed an amicus brief in Knife Rights, Inc. v. Bondi, urging the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas’s decision upholding the Federal ...

Trump Administration Repeals Biden Era Firearms Export Crackdown

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

Trump Administration Repeals Biden Era Firearms Export Crackdown

Last Monday, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the U.S. Department of Commerce published a final rule that reversed a crackdown on the commercial export of firearms from the U.S. to other countries.

Trust in Mass Media Craters to New Lows, in Single Digits With Republicans

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

Trust in Mass Media Craters to New Lows, in Single Digits With Republicans

There’s an old saying that rings especially true to Second Amendment supporters: If you don’t read the news, you’re uninformed.

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

There have been multiple developments on the Canadian gun grab and ban in the last few days, but the most astounding has got to be a leaked bombshell recording of the Liberal Public Safety Minister, ...

Alphabet Eases the Reins on Censorship; Will Gun Content Eventually Benefit?

News  

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Alphabet Eases the Reins on Censorship; Will Gun Content Eventually Benefit?

With the free speech debate recently co-opted by one TV host’s use of false and incendiary remarks about his political opponents, it might have been easy to miss another important First Amendment story last week. 

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Hawaii’s Private Property Default Carry Ban

Friday, October 3, 2025

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Hawaii’s Private Property Default Carry Ban

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the petition for certiorari in Wolford v. Lopez, a challenge to Hawaii’s law forbidding carry on private property open to the public (such as restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores) ...

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Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.