Michael Dowling is taking a stand against guns. Calling firearms a “disease” that “we’ve ignored for far too long,” the healthcare executive is urging fellow doctors and hospital administrators to take “aggressive” action against this “public health crisis.”
Dowling is the president and CEO of Northwell Health, New York State’s largest health care provider and employer. He first published his stance in a blog post on Northwell Health’s website, and later took out a full-page ad in the New York Times’ national edition, according to HealthLeaders.
“Gun violence is clearly a public health crisis that we’ve ignored for far too long,” he says. “As health care providers, we have an obligation to preserve and protect life. We have a rich and proud history of responding aggressively and successfully to past public health crises.”
Leaders, Dowling says, should be willing to speak up about issues affecting their community—no matter the criticism they receive.
SEE ALSO: Docs vs. Glocks: Court Rules that Doctors Can Interrogate Patients About Guns
“To me, it’s an obligation of people who are in leadership positions to take some action, speak out, and prepare their organizations to address this as a public health issue,” he told HealthLeaders.
Dowling’s multi-step plan calls for many of the same gun control schemes being proposed by 2020 Democratic candidates, including,
- Pressuring elected officials who “fail to support sensible gun legislation.”
- Investing in mental health without stigmatizing.
- Banning sales of firearms to people at risk of harming themselves or others.
- Banning sale of firearms “that serve no other purpose than to inflict mass casualties.”
- Supporting national red flag laws.
- Supporting universal background checks.
As justification for universal background checks, Dowling likens gun sellers to doctors. He argues that in the same way that doctors shouldn’t prescribe medication to people without knowing their medical history, gun sellers shouldn’t sell guns to people who haven’t passed a background check.
“If there was a disease that was killing as many people as guns in this country, we would be mobilizing a national response effort,” he continues. “It’s inexcusable for us to remain silent.”
Dowling is either unaware of or knowingly hiding the fact that gun sellers must already subject their customers to background checks. It’s also true that many mass murderers, including the perpetrators in Dayton and El Paso, would not have been stopped by a universal background check law.
SEE ALSO: Mass Attorney General Urges Doctors to Talk Gun Safety with Patients
Dowling isn’t the first doctor to come out against gun rights. The American Medical Association dubbed “gun violence” a public health emergency back in 2016, and issued a statement demanding “action” after the most recent murders.
But doctors aren’t united on this issue. Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership has pushed back against the anti-gun bias in the medical community and taken issue with the move to equate gun-related violence with disease.
“Organized medicine’s decades-long campaign to have firearm-related fatalities considered as a public health rather than a criminal justice issue is not evidence-based,” Dr. Jane Orient wrote back in 2013. “Its reliance on weak, even tainted evidence and spurious reasoning, and its attempts to suppress or discredit contrary evidence, is consistent with a political agenda of incremental civilian disarmament.”
If Mr. Dowling really wants to do something about “Gun Violence” maybe he should take a stand against the Gang Punks his doctors patch up on a daily basis and put back out on the street to shoot someone else to get even. He charges the city, county and state outrageous fees for continuing the inner city carnage and smiles all the way to the bank.
SOB like this CEO is why we need more firearms in America. The Constitution mean nothing to him nor the people that defend it. People like him make me puke.
Like hell – there’s a lot of money riding on this….. oh, wait….
Certainly do not want him for a doctor if he thinks an inanimate object is responsible for gun deaths and not the person activating the gun. One stupid doctor, and probably a Democrat supporter.
Let me see If I got this straight! The #3 LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH is “Medical Mistakes” to the tune of 440,000 in 2018!!!! One operation can bankrupt an entire family forcing them into “Homelessness”!! And this OVER-PAID, GREEDY, CORRUPT CEO has the unmitigated Gaul to call “Guns” a “Disease”!
Nothing new here, but it is curious how he gets page time. He’s not only ignorant of federal and state firearms’ laws, he’s regurgitating liberal “anti-gun” talking points.
Physicians in the USA, kill over 100,000 patients by accident in any given year and guns are not the problem but a bad Physicians does not take responsibility for the killing fields they leave behind every year.
They say it is by accident sometimes I wonder.
Dr Dowling is not only a sanctimonious prick, he’s dead wrong.
Gun crimes are just that: CRIMES!
Of all the means of murdering people, only ONE is deemed a “public health issue”?
🐴 💩!
This guy is NOT a doctor. Not of medicine, or anything else. Please don’t say he’s a doctor.
Malpractice by doctors kill 250,000 to 440,000 a year in the U.S. by a John Hopkins study. CNBC reported on this. The third leading cause of deaths. Maybe we should eradicate his kind and save lives.
I strongly urge all 2A supporters to accept the fact that the vast majority of good liberals out there have a few things in common:
(1.) they hate ALL guns
(2.) they want ALL guns ELIMINATED
When they talk about sensible background checks or any other additional firearm legislation, please refer to #1 and #2 above. I watched a hidden-camera interview with one of Hi-lie-ry Clinton’s upper-level operatives at the Dim-o-crap’s National Convention (2016) and she admitted just that. In addition, she admitted that anything said contrary to their desire to eliminate guns is simply to further the cause to reach that ultimate goal and that it’s ok to lie about it for the greater good. Think “little white lies”. Only they’re not.
Being that this quack is a healthcare “Professional” he is fully aware that 49% of mass shooters have, or had known mental health issues. And, he is fully aware that only 13% were known to not have mental health issues. And, he is fully aware that up to an estimated 80% of those people who have mental health issues do not seek treatment. Consequently, in the remaining “unclear” and not specified 38%, up to 30% were likely to have had mental issues. This adds up to mean that a whopping 79% of mass shootings could have been prevented if this feckless “healthcare” professional gave a damn about the people that suffer from mental health issues and fought the end the mental health stigma. For damn sure Obama, nor Biden didn’t care – they did not provide any, not any provisions the the Affordable Health Care Act. Unquestionably, the motive of this buffoon is political and not medical.
“If there was a disease that was killing as many people as guns in this country, we would be mobilizing a national response effort,” so I guess we will be doing something about the the “disease” medical malpractice.
It’s not the gun with the disease, it’s the freaking whack jobs that have the disease, probably half you take care of.
The CEO is talking about people not hardware. Hitler called the Jews a disease that had to be eradicated. Think about that for a moment.
Considering “medical misadventures” account for more than 100,000 deaths per year, this health care idiot should clean up his own industry first.
He’s on Linkedin.
Don’t HIPPA laws prohibit that sort of questioning..?
Any doc that asks me anything about guns will be asked about his
personal life. Well doc,’how many knives are in your kitchen..?
Just to let you know. Michael Dowling is from Ireland and he has the biggest health system in NY due to being Andrew Cuomo boy since Dowling worked for his father Mario when he was governor. Can anyone say “nepotism “
Also, Mr Dowling is NOT A PHYSICIAN.
He’s a CEO/admin guy.
This is one reason our medical system is in shambles. Pathetic administrators… worthless, needless individuals
Perhaps the good Mr. Dowling should focus his energies on mistakes made by health care professionals that kill scores more than firearms. How do you keep yourself safe from them?
Odds of being killed in a mass shooting 1:6700
Odds of being killed in your car 1:142
National Safety Council
250,000 people die every year in the U.S. due to medical “errors”, making it the #3 cause of death, right behind heart disease and cancer. This was pointed out after the shootings in Texas and Ohio by Neil deGrasse Tyson, a noted astrophysicist. He was vilified by the “Press”, Liberals, and Gun Control Advocates. Apparently “the truth is out there!”, but the Libtards don’t want to hear it. What a surprise!
Why don’t you hear people calling for bans on “the other’ causes of death? Because as long as law abiding citizens own guns, they can fight back against the tyranny of those who want to be King James.
This guy who shouldn’t worry so much about guns as he should be worrying about how many people have died in his hospitals due to medical mistakes and malpractice. Just sayin.
It is hilarious when “Drs” talk about guns as a “public health crisis” when iatrogenic deaths are the third leading cause of death. Conservative numbers put deaths due to medical errors at 250,000 annually, some estimates are as high as 700,000.
Gun deaths are around 30,000 annually, and that include “good shoots” (cops and self defense) and suicides, neither of which count.
Hey, Doc — how about a nice, tall cup of STFU.
Where does this guy live? (Not in the U.S.!) To buy a gun, we already have to have to go through a background check.
As a point of interest: A background check is only going to spotlight a few potential nutcases. There are so many guns available to buy, “under the counter” to really make these ‘gun control attempts’ worthless.
One thinks drugs are our biggest smuggling issue? Curb gun sales in the U.S. and we will really find out about smuggling!
Or more serious yet…..3D printing…already proven a working receiver can be made and used. So, what do we do there, start issuing the equivalent license to a CCW for 3D printer ownership?
Gun control does not work, and it never will. To hard to enforce and too hard to control the guns…..
Best crime control: Let everyone conceal carry, with nothing more required than a cert showing gun handling proficiency!
He is from Long Island NY.
Was my boss for 7 years. He is not a Dr. He is the CEO. He also just armed most of the guards at Northwell Health. What a fucking hypocritical ass.
Pol Pot, Stalin, Mao, Hitler, the Taliban, the Hutu, the 1915 Turkish government….
All the experts agree: gun control works very well.
In addition, genocide is considerably easier when directed at a disarmed population.
I think Do Nothing chair polishers are a DISEASE! We should aggressively remove Waste Material like THIS clown from the gene-pool!
This Rodeo clown should put more emphasis on finding a cure for cancer then eradicating guns. Chances are one is more likely to die from cancer then a bullet.
This administrator needs to focus on his profession…allopathic medicine. The practice of MD medicine kills far more people each and every year than do guns but he is blind to that. Depending on how you add it all up, the practice of medicine is in the top 5 leading causes of death each year, with mistakes by doctors accounting for HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of deaths each year…far greater than the 35 thousand gun deaths per year, with most of those being suicides and gang related violence. Nobody wants to look at the beam in their own eye, they are way way too busy looking at the speck in the other’s eye.
Ranking things that kill people shows doctors kill more people than criminals with guns my a margin of about 100 to 1.
Doctors should practice medicine rather than float stupid ideas.
Another fool with a degree most likely one of those high end ones, that is making a fool of himself and he is so stupid or ignorant he knows not. hypothetical situation to this nit wit, He and his family are being robbed, and his wife and daughter are being raped as he is tied up and watching, the odds are they are going to kill or harm your family much more. Now I or someone like me happens by and hears it, peeks through your window enters and without them seeing me, I approach you and say, in this hand is a cell phone, in my other a gun, each will serve a purpose, one much quicker then the other, which one do you wish me to use in your families behalf? Now your way nitwit I would not enter your house if all I had was the cellphone so your left with the call and a response time of who knows how long. I rest my case, I use this on gun control fools who are not man enough to protect as God would have them do, nor are they smart enough to even allow others to protect as God would want. Your nation, your life, your freedoms are based on God almighty as it is he who has created every right for man. The revolutionary war through great sacarfice
Sorry was not finished and posted early. And men willing to die and suffer in order to keep the freedoms you get daily. All of this was done with a gun and will remain so with a gun. A 2nd amendment to ensure that all is not lost because of nitwits like you. Perhaps the make believe above should happen to you in order for you to grasp the importance of not allowing the life loss and suffering others have done for you.
People can kill without guns. Guns CANNOT kill without people. This is a people problem epidemic, NOT an inanimate firearm problem
When are people going to quit blaming guns. People don’t blame knife company’s when someone stabs someone. I’m all for background checks as long as it doesn’t get out of hand.
Now Randy, sure they do. Since the geniuses in Jolly Old England “solved” the gun problem by disarming their citizens, they’ve developed a couple of major problems – knife and acid attacks. They’ve floated various ideas, such as gps trackers for knives and banning them altogether. As you can see, lunacy is an international problem. Now, about that acid…..
Dr. Doolittle, why don’t you go to the range and try shooting a firearm for the first time in your life then take a walk down one of the peaceful streets of South or West Chicago some night without any type of protection. Maybe you will see why it is necessary to have a way of protection. I can see that you have not been physically threatened by someone that would have no problem taking your life for a few dollars to feed the addiction of Pharmicitical drugs that you or your cohorts prescribed. What I personally think is that you want to have more victims that have no means of protecting themselves to save for the all mighty dollar while touting “Rainbows and Unicorns”… Like myself, thousands of men and women have given their lives or health protecting the most valuable document ever written while I’m sure you have yet taken the oath to “Uphold and Protect” the Constituition of the United States of America, you know the same oath that allows for you to enjoy the rights that are guaranteed to every citizen of this Country. Quit Pissing on the Graves of those that have Died for your Rights.
Perhaps we should ban medical professionals; they kill far more people than guns do. Last year, it was estimated 250,000 people died due to medical error.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/22/medical-errors-third-leading-cause-of-death-in-america.html
Medical mistakes kill over 80,000 people annually. Time to do something drastic against the medical profession since they represent a threat several times the magnitude that guns do to the health and safety of the American people.
But silence on abortion.
Once again a big city, ill-informed, highly politicized elitist is running his mouth and demonstrating just how ignorant he is. First off, doc, why don’t you put your efforts into trying to control a REAL present danger in our country: drunk drivers on our highways. That might fulfill your desire to control some aspect of American life. Last year, 2018, gun related deaths, excluding suicides were down from 2017. But deaths from drunk drivers continue to increase annually. Is it because you wouldn’t garner as much attention by taking a stand against drunk driving? I think that might be the motivating factor, doc. Your very narrow view of guns in general is laughable. ALL guns, if the gun operator desires, can be used to take a human life. But the extreme majority of gun owners in the US are responsible individuals as the data indicates. Please take your left wing anti-American agenda and poke it up your poop hole but first please make sure to move your head out of the way.
And that from a leader in one of the most corrupt industries on earth. Go to hell CEO.
I wouldn’t trust this “doctor” with my health and I sure as hell don’t trust him with my Ciivil Rights. Is he planning on a vaccine or a pill to “cure” this “disease? If it’s a pill is going to be Red or Blue? How much is it going to cost and will medicare cover it or is it going to cost us out of pocket.
Claim:
“If there was a disease that was killing as many people as guns in this country, we would be mobilizing a national response effort,” he continues. “It’s inexcusable for us to remain silent.”
Facts, from the CDC:
The 15 leading causes of death in 2017 were:
1. Heart disease: 647,457
2. Cancer: 599,108
3. Accidents (unintentional injuries): 169,936
4. Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 160,201
5. Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 146,383
6. Alzheimer’s disease: 121,404
7. Diabetes: 83,564
8. Influenza and Pneumonia: 55,672
9. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis: 50,633
10. Intentional self-harm (suicide): 47,173
11. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis: 41,743
12. Septicemia: 40,922
13. Essential hypertension and hypertensive renal disease (hypertension): 35,316
14. Parkinson disease: 31,963
15. Pneumonitis due to solids and liquids: 20,108
…guess what didnt make the list. better get crackin there, doc.
also of note:
In 2017, 39,773 persons died from firearm-related injuries in the United States
In 2017, a total of 73,990 persons died of drug-induced causes in the United States
In 2017, a total of 35,823 persons died of alcohol-induced causes in the United States
I wonder if the CEO knows that medical malpractice kills more people each year than firearms and automobiles?
Look like mikey-boy needs to stop sniffing the alcohol! Where do you go after declaring your self GOD! Mind your own business bitch!
What he said !
Come take it
Liberalism is the actual “public health crisis”! That douche nozzle needs to worry about the hospitals and not about being the next anti-gun clown trying to make the news. Probably wants to score brownie points with the Democrats so he can get more federal grants (taxpayer money).
DITTO, Bro!
The disease that needs to be eradicated is bolshevik freedom hating vermin like this and the sooner we get around to it, the better chance we have of the country surviving the next decade. We used to travel the globe killing leftists wherever they reared their ugly heads. It’s a policy we never should have stopped and it’s high time we get back to it and start within our own shores.
Amen!
The difference between a doctor and God is that God doesn’t think He’s a doctor.
A firearm, in possession of neither active thought nor directed will, is incapable of violence. As soon as the phrase “gun violence” is uttered, all that follows is obligatory parroted nonsense.
… to reduce the second amendment right of law abiding citizens!
That’s rich considering Medical Doctor malpractice kills more people annually than firearms.
Right on!!!!
Mr. Dowling is a liberal democrat idiot just like the 20 or more running for president, and the Pelosi army elected in 2016. He did have one point I have experienced. My Doctor talks to me about guns. As I started getting near sighted, he asked how many rifles I owned. I told him 19. He asked how many were AR-15’s and I told him 4. He asked if they had peep sights and I said, “Two have peeps, and two have holographic sights. He said “Sounds good for your sight, but the other 15 probably need telescopic sights because you will never be able to concentrate your vision on the target plus the front and rear sights again. It was great advice! Since then, he and I have worked out two great loads for the .270 Winchester, and a real smoker for the .222 Remington. I think more Doctors should talk to their patients about firearms. Alas, my Doctor is retiring next year and say’s he will spend the rest of his life with his English Setters, pointing quail on the Texas plains.
Richard Hege, mind sharing that load for the triple deuce?
what about all the people die in hospital do doctor n nurse mistake an the people are suppose to be profesional
“…. but that’s different.”
Bull Feathers! It really irks me when someone who has managed to obtain a degree like a Doctorate suddenly believes himself so superior that he believes he should dictate what others should believe. This is a perfect example. This leftist who in all probability has never handled a firearm in his life, has decided that anyone who likes firearms has a mental problem. John Browning was an exceptionally intelligent man who invented the 1911, the .30cal Browning water cooled machinegun, the .30cal air cooled machinegun, the .50 cal. heavy machinegun as well as so many other firearms that have been in service for over a century! The man was an engineering genius! I and many others I know all appreciate the beauty and engineering that go into these and other classic and modern firearms and guess what? Most of us have IQ’s in the ‘very superior’ range, IE. over 135, and many have degrees ranging from the basic AA to MA and Doctorates! None of us wish to ever kill a human being but understand that the situation may come to pass that it would be required to protect ourselves, our loved ones, or other innocents. Still we pray that this never comes to pass.
Kool———does this mean next time I have a purchase I can put it on my health insurance?….
LOL
But it’s A-OK to slaughter babies at birth and sell their body parts for profit. That’s not a disease but a right. Yea, we are going to give up our guns to psychopathic people like you. Not in this lifetime.
This CEO is a disease to the Republic.
I’m so tired of hearing about banning all guns, or employing “sensible” gun legislation. If anything, with more than 4,000 gun laws on the books, most of which are not even enforced effectively, I’d submit that we are currently subjected to anything but sensible gun legislation.
While people want guns off the streets because of the violence, loss of life, etc. I don’t hear any outrage over almost 40,000 deaths per year caused by motor vehicle accidents. I don’t hear anyone wanting to ban cell phones as a major contributor to the aforementioned motor vehicle accidents; or for that matter alcohol due to the DUI/DWI component.
Very few people are screaming foul about the tens of thousands abortions that are performed every year, yet we have strict laws in place about killing a bald eagle or other endangered species.
No one wants to ban cigarettes; another leading contributor to cancer, heart disease, lung disease and ultimately, death.
There is no parity, except to say that my right to own a gun is protected by the second amendment while all of these other substantial causes of death are not.
guy is a hypocrite. blind to the malpractices in his profession. from under the knife to dangerous psychotropic antidepressants. both of which are very dangerous and a person on dangerous antidepressants is more dangerous than fucking rambo if he’s armed. seriously doc – your pills are the problem. stop pushing your dangerous pills and i hope somebody is there with a fucking loaded weapon ready to protect and defend you and kill the crazy person with a gun one day. glad i could serve your country doc – because you are free to speak your mind according to the 1st amendment. weather you are wrong or not about the 2nd : )
Oh Gosh! I guess this guy forgot that doctors kill 70 – 75 thousand people a year from medical mistakes and malpractice. Since thats only the reported deaths I’d say the number is probably closer to 100,000!
So when are we going to pass sensible DOCTOR CONTROL LAWS?
This guy is obviously an idiot with a political agenda. I guess the estimated 60,000 sensible gun laws currently on the books isnt enough for him.
Exactly! So many men, women, and children are killed by improper treatment, misdiagnosis or simple screw-ups by Doctors who are not very good. We have malpractice laws but these mistakes and screwups are concealed by many of your fellow Doctors for financial reasons. Gun Laws only work for honest responsible people, or the vast majority of gun owners who intend to never hurt anyone but these very same laws are completely ignored by the bad guys who are the ones the rob, assault, and murder others. Take care of your own profession first Doc. and let us responsible gun owners work on ours.
A recent Johns Hopkins study claims more than 250,000 people in the U.S. die every year from medical errors. Other reports claim the numbers to be as high as 440,000. Medical errors are the third-leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer.
We have plenty of doctor control laws in place and I see no need to bash all doctors because you’re
angry with one A-H liberal who happens to be a doctor. I am a retired country doc who is also an avid antique gun collector and shooter, ex GI and deputy sheriff. Firm supporter of 2nd amendment which I consider an act of genius on the part of the founders to protect us from our own govt if need be. Please stop ranting about “stupid” doctors and unnecessary deaths, you are speaking out of ignorance and then complain about other peoples lack of knowledge. Death comes to all of us eventually, sometimes peacefully at home, sometimes not but it surely does come. No matter how bright or capable a doctor, you don’t win them all. There are many aspects of life and illness known only to God at any point in time.
This idiot talks about gun violence while driving a 100,000 Mercedes and he forgot cars kill 35,000 people every year. Why isn’t he talking about banning cars. Moron 👎
“As health care providers, we have an obligation to preserve and protect life.” – Michael Dowling
Mr. Dowling, would this statement also apply to abortion? You’re a hypocrite; doctor, heal thyself first…
How many people has your scalpel injured? I suppose it just jumped off the table and began cutting all by it’s self or would you say a scalpel can’t by itself. For an educated man? you should be able to see where this is going. Gary
What’s the “need” for a doctor to chop off a perfectly good penis and a set of functioning balls or to amputate a perfectly good set of breasts and inject the mentally ill with all kinds of oposite sex hormones just because a person is delusional? Nowadays a lot of “doctors” even defend doing this to little children. My Ar15 makes a lot more sense than that.
Man needs to be fired.
This Doctor should address deaths from malpractice , and misdiagnosis. At least he should know something about that.
So his actions on the “disease” of gun violence to protect and preserve life would be like telling a stage 4 cancer patient to take two aspirin twice a day. It shows the concerned parties actions are being taken but the patient is still dying because the action isn’t addressing the real disease. He needs to stay focused on solving health issues that develop into violence, maybe with a gun, maybe not.
The esteemed doctor likely subscribes to Zeke Emmanuel’s “Complete Lives”. Stage 4 cancer? Useless eater (unless a highly ranked member of the nomenklatura).
This guy has Iron Clad balls to come out and say such bullcrap when 225,000 people die each year from medical malpractice, Boy has this guy have it wrong, where is the true disease? I would shut up and keep living the good life and not stir the pot if I were him.
Perhaps if this clown put as much time and energy into find a cure for, oh I don’t know, let’s say cancer or Aids, he might be worth giving credence. Or how about doctor related medical errors that kill many more people per year than guns. This doc is a twat waffle.
It is thinking like this that will ensure that our President gets re-elected. Keep going boobs, you are guaranteeing that President Trump gets a second term. Good Job!
We can only hope President Trump gets re-elected!
No problem, Doc, as soon as we ban scalpels!
Dr. Dowling is dazzled by “gun control’s” false promise of safe streets. Behind “gun control’s” that shiny facade is a nasty reality: mountains of corpses.
In the wider World, “gun control” laws have repeatedly promoted genocides, in which millions were murdered.
Germany enacted “gun control” on 13 April 1928, before the Nazis took power. The goal: to curb street fights between Nazi Party and Communist Party thugs.
When the Nazis lawfully took power in 1933, they found in police stations, lists of firearm-owners. Plainly the Nazis did not allow those whom they hated – of whom Jews were only one group – to hold onto firearms.
The disarming of Jews was not decisive: Jews were only one percent of Germans. The prompt disarming of the many other Germans, who hated the Nazis, quickly gave the Nazis an iron grip.
The Nazis were not then wildly popular. They won 43.9% of the vote in an election held on 5 March 1933, even with Nazi party thugs having terrorized other parties’ candidates. Even so, the Nazis – short of a majority – had to form a coalition. It had a slim majority in the Reichstag (parliament). By at once disarming their foes, the Nazis stifled any resistance. By 1938, Nazi foreign policy gains – e.g., the seizure of Austria – and a revived economy made the Nazis truly popular.
The Nazis murdered some 13,000,000 of whom some 6,000,000 were Jews (of whom 1,500,000 were children) and 750,000 Gypsies (Roma). On top of that, millions of soldiers, flyers, and sailors were killed to oust the Nazi regime.
More recently, “gun control” promoted – but did not cause – a genocide in Rwanda, where 800,000 were murdered in 119 days (7 April – 19 July 1994). Those, who write about this genocide, do not explain how so many were murdered so quickly. (See for example, “Rwanda: Death, Despair and Defiance”; African Rights, Revised Edition, London, 1995.)
Unlike the Nazis, the Rwandan murderers did not set-up murder facilities. Instead, village-level murder squads – armed with machetes and nail-studded clubs – sought out those, whom they knew to be Tutsi (the target ethnic group), and murdered them on the spot.
Tutsis, a minority, tend to be tall and slim; those in the Hutu majority tend to be shorter and stockier. Every Rwandan – other than children – had to carry a national identity card, which stated the bearer’s ethnicity.
The victims were defenseless, because Belgium bequeathed to Rwanda a “gun control” regime. Rwanda enacted its own “gun control” law, Decree-Law No. 12/79, 7 May 1979 published in the Journal Officiel (Official Journal), 1 June 1979, pp. 343-346, in French and Kinyarwanda. This law remains in force, as amended by Law No. 13/2000, 14 June 2000.
The intended victims – almost all of the Tutsi ethnicity – had been targeted in prior years. But because they could not get permits to acquire firearms, they were helpless when murder squads arrived. A “fortunate” few, who had cash in their pockets, sometimes were able to pay their murderers to expend a bullet. Those without cash were slashed and/or had limbs hacked-off and were left to bleed to death. Many, who took refuge in churches and schools, were incinerated when buildings were set ablaze by murder squad members.
Rwanda’s post-genocide rulers have learned nothing: they maintain the “gun control” regime that promoted the 1994 genocide.
In short, “gun control” is a policy that seems attractive: a false promise of safe streets. Behind “gun control’s” shiny façade is a nasty reality: mountains of corpses.
Genocides tend to be viewed as akin to hurricanes: forces of nature about which we can do little. NOT SO!!! Genocides occur because murderous officials see mass murder as to their advantage. A targeted group usually won’t find any place of refuge, even if its members can afford to flee. Outside powers rarely do much, unless the genocide regime attacks them.
Having firearms and lots of ammo is the only way to prevent a genocide.
Look at Mexico.
This doctor would do well to read and heed the advice and opinions of the people on this story rather than the crap coming out of Bloomberg and every town USA.
I have to agree with many of the comments and criticisms above about Dowling’s hypocrisy and deaths from medical errors. I’m an endocrinologist and responsible gun owner. Every day I see people slowly killing themselves from a poisonous diet that causes their diabetes and makes treating it very difficult. The addiction to unhealthy foods is in many ways worse than the opioid addiction problem. Dowling would influence the health of the nation much more by raising awareness and education of diabetes and its cause than mislabeling illegal firearms use a “disease.” There would be fewer heart attacks and strokes, less need for expensive coronary stents, chronic wound care, bariatric surgeries, expensive medications, and fewer hospitalizations from other diabetic complications… wait, that might lead to less hospital revenue.
Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not for banning anything. People have the right to choose what they want to eat and drink. My point is that the advertising and subsidized funding for cheap junk food makes it very difficult to educate people about the real health hazards when these foods are the MAIN source of calories and not an occasional family treat. I like eating that stuff as much as anyone but I do it only rarely because I understand the health risks. The same is true of firearms. The nation needs to be educated on what the Second Amendment actually means. They need grade school level education on firearms safety like we used to have in this great nation. They need to be taught a message of patriotism and personal responsibility in place of the propaganda that guns are for murder and vengeance in the hands of psychopaths. THAT will make us safer and healthier as a nation.
Well said
He would also do well to read the research done by Prof. John Lott. I just yesterday watched a documentary on Prof. Lott and the bias against guns. He points to many facts dispelling the claims of the left.
Thanks Doc. Wish I had you as my Physician.
The Cretin failed to mention a statistic that doctors and hospitals kill way, way, wa6 more people accidentally every year then any guns do!
Hundreds of THOUSANDS are killed by doctors and hospitals. I’ll repeat that – HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of people are killed by doctors and hospitals EVERY YEAR!
Eliminate all violent physical aggression in humans and all animal species, and then maybe I’ll talk about gun control.
It’s amazing how someone so out of touch with reality could advance so far in his career.
Since Mr. Dowling is so entrenched in a profession that touts itself as a bastion of diagnostic competence, how come we hear NOTHING from these leftard idiots about the rampant citizen disenfranchisement being foisted upon the population by corrupt government officials and their sycophantic hospital CEO flying monkeys?
What an idiot!
Doctors vs. Gun Owners
Doctors
(A) The number of physicians in the U.S. is about 700,000.
(B) Accidental deaths caused by physicians per year are nearly 120,000.
(C) Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171.
Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services.
Now think about this:
Guns
(A) The number of gun owners in the US is 80,000,000. (Yes, that’s 80 million)
(B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups is 1,500.
(C) The number of accidental deaths per gun owners is .000188.
Statistics courtesy of FBI
So, statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.
Remember, ‘Guns don’t kill people, doctors do.’
FACT: NOT EVERYONE HAS A GUN, BUT Almost everyone has at least one doctor.
This means you are over 900 times more likely to be killed by a doctor as a gun owner!!!
Please alert your friends to this alarming threat.
We must ban doctors before this gets completely out of hand!!!!!
This clown ought to clean up the medical error issue first before he attacks the gun issue. According to a recent Johns Hopkins study more than 250,000 people in the U.S. die every year from medical errors. Other reports claim the numbers to be as high as 440,000. Medical errors are the third-leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer.
Fix your own problems before you take the wrong approach to address your own misconceptions about firearms you over educated fool. Typical liberal response once again.
What a douche bag!!!
All this idiot needs to do is take care of the mentally ill “his” problem is solved. Now go see your mental health pro Sir.
Damn. If we could just get rid of guns no one would ever be killed again. Because you know those guns are the only thing that have the potential to kill. And they can do it all by themselves!! But I have another idea. Maybe we can outlaw them!! Then nobody would have them!!! I mean look at history. Outlaw it and you will never see it again!! Or maybe we could pass some laws. Then there would be rules in place and the killings would stop!!!
I am so sick of the liberal bull. There is absolutely no logic to their thinking or arguments. But then that’s what makes them liberals. Remove all logic, common sense and the ability to conduct critical thinking and you have just described a liberal thought process.
Something like 60 million Christian Russians were killed by bolsheviks during the Red Terror following the revolution. These people were helpless against armed psychopaths who slaughtered them in some of the most revolting ways possible. A glance at South Africa now is a good warning about allowing yourself to become helpless prey. I also wonder about how many guns and other munitions are stored quietly in mosques and islamic centers right now, just waiting for us to become unable to defend ourselves. Authorities in Europe have raided these places and found huge quantities of guns, ammo, and even explosive devices.
Annual medical malpractice deaths in the U.S according to JAMA is 225,000. Gun deaths annually in the U.S. is 36,000 of which it is reported 6 in ten is suicide according to Pew research. Where is the outcry for medical providers?
First, in Florida Doctors opposed being forced to tell patients how to manage their guns. And won. Second, as an intelligent physician I long ago left the AMA as the physicians serving in that “august” body are nothing more than pompous narcissistic individuals who are filled with their self importance. Let us remember, they sold out 40% of the physicians to help the family doctors and internists and supported the catastrophe that is the AÇA. Hospital Administrators tend to be Little Napoleons with a desire to be important and raise themselves above the doctors they are supposed to help. At one hospital the Administrator failed to support the non-opiate, interventional pain practice I had grown from 10 blocks a week to 60 new patients a week as patients learnt that a compassionate doctor who listened to them, and got results had come to town. I left, and he realized I was generating $500,000 a month in profit for the Hospital (I was salary at $180,000 and would have kept on as I loved my patients). The Board fired him within 3 months for his stupidity. In my last hospital the short, balding Administrator decided that the Hospital did not want quality and even though I was the only Addiction Certified doctor on staff, they closed staff to bring on their own doctor, who then quit and they now have no pain or addiction coverage for over 100 patients.
Gun violence will not be stopped by Universal Background checks. It will be stopped by suing the media when copycat gun violence occurs, it will stop when the Left become tolerant of other ideas. They do not realize the Second Amendment was meant to allow military grade weapons so that a government of tyrannical nature could be stopped.
👏👏👏. What you’re hearing in the background is applause. Well said. He fails to even understand the definition of the word disease. Common sense isn’t as common as it needs to be. You’re spot on of course around the second amendment and its intent. Their intent lies across the river from it, in opposition to a free society.
Do not forget AARP ( an front for an insurance company) in that list. This turd was born in the 40’s, if it hadn’t been for guns in the hands of civilians he would either be dead (gas chamber) or speaking German. Maybe he would be a collaborator with the Nazis. I would not put that past him.
Your industry KILLS more people accidentally each year than guns do. Shall we “eliminate” those aking these mistakes? It would make more sense than eliminating an inanimate object for the actions of a human.
Yet, he offers not word of sympathy and protest for the tens of thousands of aborted babies every year or the like number of people killed in auto accidents. If this is his best effort of stopping murder and societal violence he falls into the abyss of stupidity! His is just another lengthy page from the liberal gun grabbers play book.
The real disease in the US is the cancerous left wing agenda that has grown to the size of the tumor it is. We need a “libtardectomy”…
Prime example!!!!!! Look where the doc is from….. New York have the most Strick gun laws witch makes it damn near impossible for a law abiding citizen to even own a gun but they have a gun violence problem?? Stupid law don’t stop criminals from grim guns just the citizens that might have have a chance on stopping a bad guy or even make the bad guy think twice people need to wake up laws not going to stop criminals!! Criminals don’t follow laws that’s what makes them a criminal!!!!
Only a mentally ill person could think a inanimate object can have a disease! Lock them up!
The doc is correct; there are many diseases in America. The most prevalent is “Stupidity” and he suffers from that ailment as do most liberals and democrats.
No guns in Mexico yet they’ve had 20,000 homicides this year alone. All those illegal immigrants say they are fleeing criminals with guns yet they are banned all across Central America. Wonder who the doc thinks will protect them if they can’t protect themselves; the police who have been demonized by the left.
Cigarettes kill way more people than guns but no mention of banning them. I might also add, folks who die from smoking related illnesses suffer horrible deaths. I’ve had two brothers who died from smoking.
Not sure of the numbers but most homicides occur between drug dealers and I don’t care if they continue to bump each other off
Jerry,… be careful using ‘words’ -they can be dangerous.
I really think you meant “Mexico does not allow guns” when you wrote “No guns in Mexico”.
You know as well as I do that there are plenty of guns there… -nearly all owned by drug cartels -many supplied them by the last treasonous American pResident NObama and his alter-ego Holder. How else do so many Mexicans lose their lives?
Keep pushing those opiates! A-hole.
Please do your own research on deaths and injuries caused by motor vehicles, pools, ATVs and trampolines as compared to firearms. Red flag “parents” who do not know how to install child seats.
If gun control worked, Chicago, NYC, Detroit would be Mayberry RFD.
Chuck,I live in michigan a Detroit has no such laws as new york or chicago . Get your facts straight.
I hate gun-control f-tards!
(it’s worth affirming regularly)
These self aggrandizing people seek to distract the public from the real issues, high costs of health care and death by medical misadventure (doctor error).
Clean up your own house and then you can come into the public and comment on other things
Most of his gunshot patients probably uninsured. The old adage ‘there’s more money in the treatment than the cure’ doesn’t fit. You can bet if everyone had insurance for him to fleece he would be advertising his gunshot treatment center with spa-like ammeneties on television.
According to jackass.com Chicongo has spent $67,584,000 (up to July 1) on gun shots victims. Doctors and hospitals are making alot of money off the thugs in this liberal dimocratic Gun Controlled city, if all this violence stopped the hospitals and doctors would be out of work or yelling about having to raise the cost for their services. Looks like gun violence in Chicongo does pay really well.
This Doc should be concentrating on what he’s trained in! Medicine and Doctors kill far more people than deranged people with guns. We aren’t calling for doctors to be hung for murder! Why don’t you go after doctors and hospitals that charge outrageously high prices! Doctors that over prescribe all these opioid’s! You leaches! You treat the symptoms rather than the disease! You string people along so you can fill you pockets! Stay in your lane Doc! Stick to what you know! I’d consider your comments “malpractice”!
Where did it say this guy is a doctor? He’s a business suit CEO of a hospital corporation. While some corporate big shots have bought into the gun control idiocy for supposedly “humanitarian” reasons, this one heads up a company that routinely murders people by mistakes and incompetence. So he’s got to be totally devoid of any compassion and has ulterior motives. Perhaps his hospitals will get more money, and he can get his obscene salary increased even higher, if he can convince libtard morons in the NY legislature declare guns a disease.
The for profit healthcare system in this country will damage many times more people than guns ever will.
Fact — 50% of ALL DOCTORS finished in the bottom half of their class.
“A recent Johns Hopkins study claims more than 250,000 people in the U.S. die every year from medical errors. Other reports claim the numbers to be as high as 440,000. Medical errors are the third-leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer.” — CNBC
“Nearly 40,000 people in the United States died by guns last year, marking the highest number of gun deaths in decades, according to a new analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s WONDER database.” — CNN
You’re 6-11 times more likely to die from seeing a doctor than by a gun. I’d call this a MUCH bigger crisis!
Pot or kettle?
another little known item is when they cite “children deaths” by firearms is that number includes all deaths up to 21 years of age, includes gang members, includes criminals shot by police, even includes military combat deaths, or a 21 year old guard/cop on the job……
The REAL disease is the mental disease that society cant take accountability for it’s actions and must be a victim to a situation , organization, or an inanimate item.
Adolph Hitler was a strong creator of gun control and disarmed the public just before he began his murder of nearly all jewish people in Europe… This Idiot is in good company …..
well said Scott. the ownership of guns in this country is the only thing that has made the U.S. the best country in the world and has kept us safe from the tyrants that want to take away our guns and then our freedoms. if this jackass had a clue he would not have to make such a fool of himself while he wants our country to lose its freedoms as guaranteed by our constitution. hitler, mao, ho chi mihn , stalin, mussilini all would like to have some idiot like this taking our freedoms . it makes it easier to kill all the people who don’t want to be controlled by people like this doctor. i am sure all of the despots love this guy more than he will ever know.
How can people who know nothing about guns talk about gun safety to people who know 100 X more about guns than THEY do? He wants to ban any gun whose sole purpose is to inflict many casualties quickly. That’s a pretty tall order. The guns he’s referring to are the mis-named “assault weapons”. They function like all other semiautomatic rifles: one trigger pull, one bullet. They serve other purposes besides inflicting many casualties quickly. They are used to hunt, to target shoot for fun and in competition, self defense and several other legitimate uses. I I put an Ar15 on my kitchen table, and left it there for a month, it would not kill anyone. It can’ load itself, aim itself or fire itself. Those things ALL require human intervention, and that is where the focus on gun violence should be. What would a gun ban actually do? It wouldn’t affect criminals, they don’t obey laws, hence the name “criminals”. Only good, honest citizens would obey the law, leaving them at the mercy of criminals who did not surrender their weapons. The case in point- New Orleans, LA, immediately after there hurricane that left the city under water. There were very few police officers. The army went house to house and confiscated lawfully owned weapons from law-abiding people. As soon as the army left that area, armed criminals came and robbed those people who were defenseless and without police protection. That reason alone is reason enough to refuse to surrender anything. When we need protection the most we can only rely on ourselves until the police finally do arrive.
LET us NEVER FORGET:
And what is the militia? “It is the whole people, except for few public officials,” founder George Mason noted.
That vision is codified in federal law, 10 U.S. Code § 246 “Militia: composition and classes,” to be exact, as:
“[T]he unorganized militia … consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.”
Basically, that’s you and me, with effective organization, qualified leadership, training and arms necessary to be a viable defensive force. Yet do you see any “conservative Republicans” in Congress touted as “pro-Second Amendment” making an effort to do their duty – and that’s what it is – to activate a sustained militia? Did they when they controlled the House, the Senate, and the Executive? Instead, the arms-related initiatives they are enacting will enable the states to conduct more “red flag” confiscations.
I wonder if the good Doctor is willing to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for overdoses and deaths caused by drugs. Even the deaths caused by illegal drugs. When a criminal uses a stolen firearm in a crime, the Doctor believes that all firearms should be banned. Then if we use the same logic. If someone misuses any drug, all drugs should be banned.
Will he start by eliminating any armed security at his hospitals.?
Asking for a friend.
Medical malpractice is the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S., thats about 251K per year (2016) and 9.5% of all deaths in the U.S. it could be as high as 440K deaths based on the sources and parameters used.
Doc asshat should clean his house before casting stones on 2A Rights. Suicides are self serve, he can addres the mental health issues. Murder and injury from criminal act are a LE thing. Gun ND or accidents are owner/operator failures and when these actions violate laws they can be addressed.
To this Doc and all the “medical professionals ” quit blowing political anti-gun agenda as a “disease”. All of you know what defines a disease and neither criminal or lawful use of firearms fits. I’m sure its in the left wing anti-gun agenda to rewrite the definition to fit your narrative.
As above, these are fine reasons to continue denying funding to CDC anti-gun research.
“If there was a disease that was killing as many people as guns in this country, we would be mobilizing a national response effort,” he continues. “It’s inexcusable for us to remain silent.”
So, then, he’s going to spearhead an effort to eradicate the serious public health crisis of medical malpractice, which kills FAR more people every year than does gun violence?????
Once a lying douchebag, always a lying doucebag.
I guess this guys never heard of tobacco or alcohol or crystal meth or drunk driving either. all of which kill tens of thousands of Americans compared to several hundred a year who died in what they term are mass shootings. I’ve heard more common sense out of Doctor Doolittle then this guy, they should nickname this guy doctor do nothing. Cuz that’s all he intends to do nothing,
He needs to be far more concerned with the outrageously obscene high salaries hospital administrators get. Not to mention the high cost of hospital services. All this has far, far more effect on people’s well being than guns do.
““If there was a disease that was killing as many people as guns in this country, we would be mobilizing a national response effort,” he continues. “It’s inexcusable for us to remain silent.”
Cancer, heart disease, Aids, Diabetes, Crones disease, Medical mistakes made by doctors…. all of these kill more than guns do in any given year.
You should listen to a man that makes over $10,000,000/yr. profiting off from sick people. In days gone by, we’d have labeled him a parasite, but today we just call him CEO. And I guess because he has so much money, he can buy his way into the media with his delusions and tergersations.
Just because you know how to run a hospital, it is not evidence you know anything else. Mr CEO, sounds like a climate change doofus, also.