Comment at the site by an MD :
Speaking as a physician, I feel that (barring very particular circumstances) an MD asking you about whether you have firearms has way too much time on his or her hands. Or some political axe to grind, in which case find yourself another doctor. In the 15 minutes (or less) we typically have to see a patient, just finding out about the reason for the visit, and actually important preventative stuff such as smoking, blood pressure, diabetes and physical activity take up all the allotted time.
If physicians are forced to document a discussion about firearms as a quality (i.e. physician performance) metric find one who will put in the note “We discussed health maintenance and safety issues including wearing a seat belt in automobiles, proper storage and handling of firearms, wearing a helmet when bicycling or motorcycling, and having a fire extinguisher and smoke and CO2 alarms in the home. The patient indicated s/he understood the conversation, and questions, if any, were answered to his or her satisfaction.” That’s a piece of boilerplate that then appears in EVERY patient’s note and does not indicate whether a particular patient has firearms, or indeed if s/he rides a motorcycle or bicycle.
So as not to commit fraud I would indeed say to the patient while face to face “I am obligated to say: Please wear a seatbelt in cars, a helmet while cycling, and if you have firearms handle and store them safely.” Followed by “I am happy to discuss any of those further in detail if you like, but only if you want to.” Usually people are perfectly happy to get out of the office with that.
My arms are perfectly fine.. little hairy, few scars but not on fire... hence I would have to select NO on any questionnaire.
Let’s review real-world statistics. A guy goes in and gets asked the standard five questions.
Smoking? Oh, one cigarette a day (he really smokes a pack a day),
Illicit drugs? Oh, my goodness, never (he smoke weed four times a week, and does sixteen pain-killers a week for that high school football injury).
Alcohol? Never ever (he consumes four shots every evening and a six-pack a day).
The doctor writes this all down and it’s factual as far as he’s concerned. Most doctors will readily agree that a quarter of all patients are plain out-and-out lying (not just a fib, but big-time stuff).
So now the new questions?
Your ethnic situation? Chinese-Albanian. (you grin as you remark this)
Your gun situation? Oh my, weapons scare me (getting robbed or assaulted scares me more though).
If this were the pearly gates, and that Moses-character and several angels were standing there....yeah, I might go and be humble and honest. But I don’t need some political figure or doctor trying to be my “friend”. If I’ve come to you with a need of pain relief or some life-saving....I’d expect some relative calm, basic wit and knowledge, and hopefully you do your very best.
Somewhere down the line....if you did want my advice on digging septic tanks, turf management, or best hotel to stay at in New Orleans....I’d be happy to offer that advice and wisdom.