Florida Judge Issues Permanent Injunction Against Docs v Glocks Law

A U. S. District Court judge has handed down a permanent injunction against Florida’s Docs v Glocks law (BERND WOLLSCHLAEGER, et al., Plaintiffs vs. FRANK FARMER, et al., Defendants). The unfavorable ruling for the law should come as no surprise, since Judge Marcia Cooke telegraphed her disapproval of the law in a temporary injunction last September (BERND WOLLSCHLAEGER, et al., Plaintiffs vs. FRANK FARMER, et al., Defendants). In that ruling she accused the state of Florida of “attempt[ing] to inveigle this Court to cast this matter as a Second Amendment case.” On that basis she abruptly dismissed any need for her to address the State’s Second Amendment arguments.

In this latest ruling her elaborate justification that the law violates doctors’ right of free speech is based on that speech being “truthful and non-misleading.” The judge completely ignores the obvious and highly publicized American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) campaign over the last 20 years to get doctors to push their gun control advocacy agenda. It’s hard for a thinking person to believe that gun control advocacy can be described as “truthful and non-misleading” when it’s presented with a façade of promoting gun safety.

I think there’s a good chance the state of Florida will appeal. But even if the state doesn’t appeal, doctors have been put on notice that the public is watching. When doctors start working the AAP’s anti-gun agenda on patients who come to them for medical care, they now know they’re stepping into a minefield.

 

Dr. Tim Wheeler

—Timothy Wheeler, MD is director of Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership, a project of the Second Amendment Foundation. 

All DRGO articles by Timothy Wheeler, MD