Debbie Dooler MD CCFP

Re: Letter from Dr. Lucas Gil in November 2015 CFP issue

I write in response to Dr. Gil's commentary on being surprised by seeing a photo of a physician wielding a high-powered rifle. The Faces of Family Medicine profiles are together meant to show a broad view of family physicians across the country. As such, it is reasonable to see family physicians who indeed have firearms licenses. As a rural GP who works in Nunavut, I know several physician and nurse colleagues who have firearms licenses, as do my patients. In fact, I have patients who would have died if they did not have their high-powered rifle with them when attacked by a polar bear. Owning a firearm has nothing to do with pacifism or peacefulness, as Dr. Gil has suggested. It can be used for hunting to feed the family, as is the case for my patients, for self-defence, or as a hobby. Recent shootings in the US have nothing to do with hobby gun ownership. They are the result of poor gun control laws and policies allowing guns to freely go to the wrong hands. A car in the wrong hands can be equally lethal. It is interesting that Dr. Gil finds it baffling a physician providing palliative care services is also a gun owner. Being a gun owner has no bearing on our clinical judgment or compassion. As a physician who spends a significant proportion of my practice providing palliative care, and as a physician who also hobby shoots, I find the negative insinuation mildly insulting. I am sure my physician colleagues with firearms licenses, including those serving in the military, will likewise agree.

Sincerely,

Conflict of Interest:

None declared