In 1998, a group of physicians published a small case study involving just 12 patients in the respected medical journal Lancet, claiming that their results indicated a link between the mumps-measles-rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism.  The story received wide publicity in the media and spawned a tidal wave of public concern, as well as multiple large follow-up studies—none of which supported their conclusion. In the years since publication, Lancet and all of the authors have retracted the 1...

Early this month I attended a day-long seminar given by the San Bernardino (California) County Sheriff’s Medical Reserve Corps.  It was a sit-down class on dealing with active shooter attacks, and especially on one such attack with great meaning to us who live in this county.  The speakers were intimately involved in the San Bernardino terrorist attack of December 2, 2015. About 200 invitees listened as San Bernardino Police chief Jarrod Burguan spoke for nearly an hour about how a county...

The United States Congress has been described as the "greatest deliberative body in the world".  What does that mean?  To be deliberative, our representatives must follow certain procedures: Participants all have complete and accurate data. All views held by the public are considered. Participants sincerely weigh all arguments. Positions are taken based on evidence, not on who is doing the advocating. (more…)

I believe everyone who is physically and mentally capable should take personal responsibility for their own health and well-being, and that of their dependents. That involves living a healthy lifestyle, and seeking competent medical advice. It also includes taking primary responsibility for their and their loved ones' personal safety. Living a healthy lifestyle does not have to be complicated either. As long as you eat a balanced diet, drink plenty of water, exercise frequently, and get...

Are anti-gun public health activists as statistically ignorant as they appear, or do they think their audiences are? They may be right about the journalists who parrot their parodies of scientific research. A recent article in The Trace, “Ten essential facts about guns and suicide”, reminded me of a pungent saying by the famous comedian, W.C. Fields: “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with b---s---.” This article is chock full of BS, “bogus science.” (more…)

[Editor's note: This is the last of four presentations DRGO leadership gave at this weekend's 31st annual Gun Rights Policy Conference hosted by the Second Amendment Foundation in Tampa. See the video, beginning at 9:36:35.] I want to thank Alan Gottlieb and Julianne Versnel and their staff for once again putting on the best networking conference ever for firearm civil rights.  And, especially for sponsoring Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership, DRGO, as one of its projects. And since...

[Editor's note: This is the third of four presentations DRGO leadership gave at this weekend's 31st annual Gun Rights Policy Conference hosted by the Second Amendment Foundation in Tampa. See the video, beginning at 9:25:58.] Nearly a quarter century ago, a young surgeon (well, young by physician standards) discovered that firearm ownership was becoming vilified by the medical powers-that-were.  Anti-gun agenda-driven “studies” shocked him, like Kellerman’s 1993 New England Journal of Med...

[Editor's note: This is the second of four presentations DRGO leadership gave at this weekend's 31st annual Gun Rights Policy Conference hosted by the Second Amendment Foundation in Tampa. See the video, beginning at 9:20:10.] Thank you, Alan, Julianne and the SAF for asking me to speak to you again this year. As you may know I am a fervent opponent of Gun Free Zones in general, and in hospitals, in particular. The gun free zone, that is my hospital workplace, is the motivating factor for...