Proposal To Have Physicians Decide Who Can Have A Gun

[From article]
The average American child is 13 times more likely to be murdered with a gun than are children in other industrialized countries, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. And that’s after the gun homicide rate in the United States went down 49 percent since its 1993 peak, paralleling a general decline in violent crime, as illustrated by a Pew Research Center analysis of government data.
More than 900 children in the U.S. die in homicides each year, the majority of whom (51 percent) are shot by a relative, according to an NBC News analysis of 25 years of homicide reports. The most recent analysis of U.S. homicide rates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that firearms were the cause of 11,078 deaths out of 16,259 homicides recorded in 2010.
[. . .]
doctors are concerned about the potential ethical consequences participation in this assessment might have for the doctor-patient relationship. While the Affordable Care Act forbids the collection and recording of data about patients’ gun ownership, the Obama administration has made it clear that health laws do not prevent physicians from disclosing necessary information about a patient to law enforcement, family members or other people when the patient is deemed to present a serious danger to himself or others. But the American Psychiatric Association has cautioned against laws requiring doctors to talk to law enforcement about patients who may appear to pose a threat to themselves or others.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/doctors-role-in-stopping-gun-violence/373524/

Doctors' Role in Stopping Gun Violence
With proper training and guidelines, physicians could determine who is fit to carry a gun.
IULIA FILIP
JUN 30 2014, 9:18 AM ET