Long Island, NY — Three hospitals in Long Island are going to start collecting data on gun ownership from every single patient who comes in the door — regardless of their reason for being there.
Northwell Health system says they are going to “analyze the risks of gun ownership” by collecting the data in a $1.4 million dollar program they’re calling “We Ask Everyone About Guns.”
Catchy name.
Their public statement on the data collection explains that the hospital system plans to expand the study to all of their hospitals, but are starting with just three. Additionally, they liken the problem of ‘gun violence’ to a disease — thereby invoking funding for their research.
The New Hyde Park-based health system said the grant is part of its “We Ask Everyone About Guns” research study, which approaches firearm injury risk similarly to other health risk factors that are part of routine care, like smoking, substance use and motor vehicle accidents.
“Gun violence is a public health issue,” said Michael J. Dowling, the president and chief executive at Northwell Health. “This is the health industry’s responsibility to talk about this and do something about it.”
This isn’t Northwell’s first foray into the gun control debate — or their first attempt to claim that gun violence is a disease. In 2019, the Hospital system posted the following statements on their blog:
“Guns don’t kill people; people kill people,” is a scientifically inaccurate statement, says Hargarten. Guns do not, in fact, kill people, but the bullets certainly do. “The kinetic energy from the bullet is the ‘agent,’ much like the HIV virus is the agent that causes AIDS,” he explains. “The bullet and the kinetic energy it transmits to the body tears and destroy cells and tissue, damages organs, breaks bones and leads to disability or death.”
The disease model, Hargarten says, is how researchers and public health and medical professionals studied and addressed the staggering numbers of motor vehicle injuries and fatalities. “We scientifically investigated crashes and motor vehicle fatalities and learned that attenuating the kinetic energy release reduced injuries and death.” In other words, driving at slower speeds, requiring seatbelts and car seats, adding airbags, even redesigning on-ramps and road curves, contributed to a steep reduction in motor vehicle fatalities since the 1970s. With guns, Hargarten says, maybe interventions can include limiting the rate at which a gun can release bullets. Or limiting how many bullets it can release—aka restricting access to automatic weapons, “bump stocks,” and high-capacity magazines.
Back in 2019, the government granted the CDC a $25 million dollar budget to research the ‘gun violence’ epidemic. We pointed out at that time how ludicrous it is to liken gun violence to a disease. Bullets aren’t contagious, and there’s no genetic component or nutritional solution! You can’t kill a germ and make it go away.
But here we are, using tax-payer dollars to purchase science that backs up the anti-gun agenda. This isn’t science. It’s a politically motivated agenda that’s being advanced by our own tax dollars.
New York State Has Red Flag Laws
Gun owners will remember that New York has already passed and implemented Red Flag Laws. That means that if a gun owner answers the questions their doctor is asking them truthfully –“Yes, I have guns in my home” and then expresses anger at the driver that just hit their car –sending them to the ER in the first place — they could get Red Flagged by their doctor that same day.
If you go to the ER for pneumonia and the doctor finds out you have guns as well as a prescription for an anti-depressant, they can Red Flag you as mentally unstable. If you are upset about the insane bill that you’ve gotten from the same hospital and call to complain to the billing department…..they’ll see on your chart that you are a gun owner and can have you Red Flagged for being angry on the phone.
The hospital isn’t bothering to look into why the state’s current gun control — which is some of the worst in the country — isn’t stopping violent crime. No, they’re going to pin this on law abiding gun owners and will manipulate the data to fit their agenda.
This anti-gun agenda is out of control and these Red Flag laws are unconstitutional in the extreme. This is a dangerous combination for gun owners in New York.