One of the most indefensible stances of the NRA—in a sea of indefensible stances—is that medical professionals and government public health experts cannot use taxpayer money to research gun violence in our country. After a few hundred American deaths in more headline-grabbing mass-shooting events over the past decade, Congress better defined the parameters of 1996’s Dickey Amendment, allowing the Centers for Disease Control to finally, after thousands of deaths, study gun violence. On Wednesday, after the CDC released statistics about rising gun violence, and probably feeling a bit butt-hurt after over a dozen Grade A NRA candidates lost to a bunch of Grade F Democrats, the NRA’s social media idiot tweeted out this statement.
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.
Only people like Donald Trump, the NRA, Mitch McConnell, and the entire Republican Party seem to have the kind of chutzpah it takes to tell medical professionals to stay in their lane. Attacking a group of people who are both highly educated and highly dedicated to protecting the lives of others is a recipe for classic NRA failure. The initial responses were direct and to the point.
Many began hash-tagging #ThisIsMyLane and #ThisIsOurLane. And more and more medical professionals stepped in, and many decided to make their point with images and more graphic examples of the barbarity of gun violence.
[Warning: Images of bloody scenes below.]
I don’t have any words to add to these.