My kids went to the pediatrician for their annual check up.  We were trying a new one since we had good reviews about one who was only about 20 minutes drive away compared to 40 minutes for the old one.  With any new doctor-patient situation, we had to fill out tons of paperwork and the kids were weighed, measured, etc.

Then the questions started.  Some were for me, and some were for my kids.  All of the questions asked of me were what I would consider standard questions, but the ones for the kids were a little strange to me.  Keep in mind that this was a doctor’s office, and for a well-visit, not an ER visit with bruising or obvious signs of abuse.

So they asked my kids “Do you eat fresh fruits and vegetables?”  One of my sons knew what was going on, and answered in the affirmative.  “Do you get enough to eat?”  Apparently the consensus was that we don’t feed them pizza enough.  Whatever.  Then a question that drew my ire.

“Does your family have any guns in the house?”  I tried to get their attention and play it off as a joke question by telling them to show the nurse their guns, by flexing.  However, the kids weren’t that swift on the uptake, and told the nurse that not only did we have guns in the house, they had a gun.  That is actually true, I did get them a small .22 to teach them to shoot, but they don’t have access to it or the ammunition.  Now I don’t like the question of what guns I have at the home getting out;  I’d like to keep such information surprises for any intruders, but I didn’t like the way the questions were going.  Last time I checked, I had a right to keep and bear those and other arms I may have.  Why is that a health issue?  How is that any of the medical system’s business?  They didn’t ask if I had books in the house, or a snake (we don’t), or birds (can’t they make people sick sometimes?).  I thought I’d do a little research about these guns.

What I discovered is that the nanny-state nurses should have asked me if I have a swimming pool, as far more children die by drowning than by guns, even when suicides are included.  Using the CDC statistics for the ages from 0 to 9, (the range that includes my kids) from 1999-2007, I found that 1250 were killed by firearms, for a rate of .35 per 100,000.  For comparison, falls claimed 743 victims, with a rate of .20, and poison killed 977 kids, for a rate of .27.  What was far more dangerous?  Drowning claimed 6514 children, for a rate of 1.79 per 100,000.

These statistics are for young kids.  When you look at the data for older kids, all the way to age 19, drowning claims 10,932 for a rate of 1.48, and firearms kill 27,270.  But of those, 17,351 are homicides.  The accidental firearms deaths were 1515, or a rate of .21, and suicides were 7765 for a rate of 1.05.  Now I don’t want to question if those suicides wouldn’t have happened if a gun wasn’t available.  There is no way to know that, and there are plenty of ways to kill yourself:  pills, hanging, letting your mother-in-law drive, noodling, defenestration, even drowning.

The point here is that for young children, drowning is far more likely to kill them than firearms, so it would seem that the nurse should have asked about a pool before she asked me about firearms, unless there was some agenda here by someone.  For older children, suicides are still a danger, so it is important to have a healthy relationship with them.  And of course, teach your kids the safe way to handle guns, and don’t allow them access to them without proper supervision and training.  After all, they need to be able to hit what they are aiming at.

It may be worth your time to teach them  the answer to questions like “do your parents have guns in the home?” by teaching them to flex, and say “yeah–these guns.”  Or even “They’re right here–why don’t you ask  them?”

What do you think?  Is this another example of the nanny state gone crazy?