The Claremont Institute: Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership
I didn’t know they existed, but I’m glad they do.
Often, people are astonished at the low percentage of doctors who are active members of the AMA. I read an analysis several years ago that I’ll summarize as ‘every time you take a stand you alienate some people’, and if you take enough stands you’re going to severely limit the numbers who agree with all your stands.
The AMA has taken enough stands that are way to the left of me politically I see no reason to me an active member. Gun ownership is only one of several issues that make sure their pleas for $400/yr dues go directly to the trash.
I recall that I joined the American Medical Students’ Association, thinking ‘I’m a med student, so they’re for me’ (and because it guaranteed me a credit card). I stopped paying my dues when I got their list of things they really cared about, and one of their big efforts was to make sure that Physicians in the military were unarmed. Being on military scholarship to med school, not being afraid of guns, and having a good idea that self-defense in a war zone is a really good idea, I figured these bizarro idealogues didn’t need my support. I’m still baffled by that: what the heck does that have to do with being a medical student?
So, here’s a group I’m glad exists, and it’s too bad they have to. Perhaps they should get my AMA dues money.
I stop supporting the AMA just after graduation. I look at them as a bunch of long-haired liberals. The stand that lost me was the one in which they believe that most physicians are overcompensated for what they do. This was when I had 6 figures of med school debt and realized that about every 5th patient I see is a “no pay”. I understand that things like playing basketball,and other sports are fairly compensated and that entertaining the masses is more important than keeping them alive and healthy….