State of Florida should stop defending the gun gag law

"With 30,000 men, women and children dying each year from gun violence, our country is facing a public health crisis that demands an active role from America's physicians.  But lawyers for the State of Florida are arguing at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals today that doctors should be prohibited from asking patients about guns in the home.

"In 2011 Florida lawmakers passed the Privacy of Firearm Owners Act, which inserts the state into the patient-physician relationship and threatens open communication in the exam room. The AMA continues to challenge Florida's 'gun gag law' as an unconstitutional attack on the patient-physician relationship and the free speech necessary for the practice of medicine.