January, 2014
There was an ER doc at The Med in Memphis, Tn. and later at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. that was nationally famous for his anti-gun stand. Athur Kellerman had published some anti-gun articles in prestigious medical publications that I (and many others) challenged and thought was basically false.
I scared them. They sent out “spies” to check me out and invited me to speak on subjects to small audiences to see what I would say. Two such instances come to mind.
I was asked to give a lecture to trauma surgery residents on ballistics and gun shot wounds in humans. You have to understand my theory of Medicine first. Doctors are assholes. Surgeons are really big assholes and trauma surgeons are really, really big arrogant assholes (there are exceptions). That said, one might understand that I wondered why they would ask a Pediatric Emergency Medicine physician to talk to a group that obviously knew more on most subjects than I.
But I persevered and researched the subject, but from a perspective they had not entertained. The audacity I showed shocked them all. I even used resources such as the NRA, the Marine and Army armorers data and gun magazines. Sources they didn’t even know existed. I started with a brief review of the types of firearms, from the blunderbuss to the M-16, rifles and pistols and then discussed bullets, powder, the flight of a lead projectile through air, ballistics “jello”, watermelons and flesh. Some of what I said contradicted what they had been taught in their training. Man was it a quiet audience.
The second encounter involved the spy issue and was much more obvious. The media staff for the Department of Pediatrics set up an interview with me to discuss the dangers of having a gun in the house if there was a child in the home. It was almost humorous, if it hadn’t been so sad. The interviewer used leading questions, Kellerman’s publications and anti-gun sources in such an obvious attempt to get me to join their hysteria. Leading questions are adroitly formed questions meant to lead the responder to a desired answer such as, “Don’t you agree, Doctor, that if there is a gun in the home, there is always the possibility a child could get it and harm himself or others?” You can’t disagree with the statement, but you can construct your answer in a way that brings its relevance to the fore front.
Well, the interviewer got distressed after the 3d or 4th question. Her questions came more rapidly, she cut off my answer before I had finished and finally snapped her notebook closed stood up and said that the interview was over. I’m sure she meant to thank me for my time, but just forgot. Anyway, my interview never made any official publication or saw the light of day anywhere.
Today I read on Fox News about ABC presenting almost the exact same data that Kellerman started way back then. ABC did what Kellerman did frequently; cherry picked statistics, falsely represented data and lied about the results.
Back in the day, we did not have Fox News or any other media avenue for our opinion to be heard.
Proudly posted by your grumpy Uncle/Brother Dave.
Steven Milloy, “Gun Control Science Misfires”, Fox News, 10/31/2002, http://www.foxnews.com/story/2002/10/31/gun-control-science-misfires.html
John R. Lott, “ABC News reports on guns mislead Americans”, Fox News, 1/07/14, http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/02/07/abc-news-reports-on-guns-mislead-americans.html