The National Rifle Association (NRA) sank to an unbelievably outrageous new low this week as the country deals with a string of mass shootings that includes 12 people murdered in Thousand Oaks, California.
As we all know, guns inflict wounds that require immediate medical attention. It’s not the NRA who have to fix bones and flesh, but doctors and nurses at hospitals. Doctors and nurses deal with gunshot victims all the time, more frequently these days. They witness the wounds, the blood, and the heartbreak when they lose a patient and have to inform families.
The NRA does NONE of that all while insisting that “thoughts and prayers” will stop mass shootings and that what America needs is more guns on the streets.
Not surprisingly, medical professionals largely support gun control because they see first-hand that guns are a health crisis in this country.
On Wednesday, the NRA whined about their support for gun control and told doctors to “stay in their lane,” and appeared to demand that doctors consult them before talking about guns.
Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane. Half of the articles in Annals of Internal Medicine are pushing for gun control. Most upsetting, however, the medical community seems to have consulted NO ONE but themselves. https://t.co/oCR3uiLtS7
— NRA (@NRA) November 7, 2018
That didn’t go over very well with medical professionals, who responded by burying the NRA on Twitter.
How many gunshot victims do NRA staffers treat? Maybe doctors don’t need to consult with Russian-funded political stooges who only want more guns in every corner of this country. Doctors take care of the inevitable victims of the NRA’s wanton disregard for human life. So, yeah…
— ?HouseUnderBlueManagement? #ProtectMueller (@ruth_schleifer) November 9, 2018
Doctors are telling you there is an issue with guns. Listen to us.
We see it far too often to stay silent.— The Doctor (@Drstevenhobbs) November 9, 2018
We’re the ones removing bullets from victims and delivering the worst news to their loved ones. We consult science and empirical data. Lives are literally our business, and what we do saves lives while what you do ends them. You’re the tumor we seek to eradicate.
— Secular Citizen MD #WaveCastWA (@secularcitizen2) November 9, 2018
#traumasurgeons r on the front line of #gunviolence. We fight 4 lives, comfort families & do #research. We go home exhausted w/blood on our shoes b/c we didn’t get to change b4 the 1st victim rolled in. That’s not self-important—that’s just what we do. #ThisIsOurLane @EAST_TRAUMA
— Gerard A Baltazar DO (@baltazarsurgery) November 9, 2018
We are in our lane: The front lines. Until @NRA has their hands in the cracked chest of a GSW victim or tells a sobbing father that his child is dead they can stay OUT of our lane. #Docs4GunSense @AnnalsofIM
— nuMose (@nuMosemed) November 9, 2018
How dare you. As a physician, I treat gun shot wounds. Specifically, I am a pediatric urologist. I reconstruct genitalia of children who have been shot. Bladders of children who have been shot. I most certainly do have a say. Who have you consulted, incidentally?
— Kristina Suson (@KristinaSuson) November 9, 2018
When gunshot victims start showing up at the @NRA for treatment instead of hospitals, then the @NRA can claim #ThisIsOurLane
— Dr Bruce Herbert (@drbruceherbert) November 9, 2018
As a radiologist, I get to see the organ damage, shattered bones, brain damage, lung and heart destruction that happen from bullets. Very much my lane. Sincerely, an actually important anti gun doctor.
— Gennifer Geller (@drgenngeller) November 9, 2018
perhaps the author of this tweet should follow a Pediatric ER physician as they do their job every day for a year. See what it is like pulling shrapnel out of CHILDREN. See the horror of innocent lives torn apart. See the repercussions of their disposable actions. first hand.
— ELS (@L_shoe) November 9, 2018
I am an emergency physician. I don’t need to consult the NRA on a public health issue. #ThisisMyLane
— Warren Wiechmann (@warrenwiechmann) November 9, 2018
I see no one from the @nra next to me in the trauma bay as I have cared for victims of gun violence for the past 25 years. THAT must be MY lane. COME INTO MY LANE. Tell one mother her child is dead with me, then we can talk. #StopGunViolence #toomanydead @Jacobi_EM @SBH_EM_Res
— marianne haughey (@mthaughey) November 9, 2018
We’re physicians. We save lives. What do you do exactly? @acpinternists #thisisourlane
— Matt K (@drkuehnert) November 9, 2018
Here is my lane @NRA. As an academic physician my life is dedicated to the discovery of new cures to save people’s lives, an oath that I honor daily. How much of that can you claim in your lane as you have advocated to cut any funding in firearms safety research? #Docs4GunSense
— Cory Hussain MD (@Jaudath) November 9, 2018
Stay out of my lane. I ask my patients if they have guns at home bc it’s my professional responsibility to do so AND my 1st Amendment right to speak freely. Scientific research trumps baseless fear mongering every time https://t.co/GFpubaKCA8
— Troy Fiesinger (@TroyTxFamilyDoc) November 9, 2018
The NRA is seriously out of line here. Because while doctors and nurses often have blood on their hands, it’s because they are working desperately to save lives. The NRA has blood on their hands because they value guns more than they value those lives.
Featured Image: Wikimedia
