I've been a member of SD for a while now and have mostly lurked and posted a bit. I am aware it is a public forum so need to be suitably candid.
I am a GP and recently had my firearms certs renewed so thought I would share my thoughts as this has cropped up a few times causing lots of worry for both Doctors and the shooting community especially from the point of view of mental health problems and how they may be perceived. It has also given me pause for thought. I think the firearms teams have a difficult job with this in all fairness and have always found my local teams to be a reasonable and sensible bunch. They have pressure from above and the BMA and BASC have tried to represent doctors and shooters respectively as best they can.
A lot of it boils down to trust in the motives behind the legislation from the Government and how the information is to be used by the firearms teams. There also seems to be some misunderstanding and misgivings by Doctors when completing the paperwork
My main worry is that people in the shooting community may not come to see their Doctor with a treatable mental or physical health condition early on as they are worried about losing/not getting their license. This could then lead to the illness worsening to the point were their health suffers and they or others could come to harm as a result, or ironically become so bad that they would then have to give up their license.
The physical and psychological aspects of any type of shooting make it a protective and desirable hobby to have for a lot of mental and physical health problems. When feeling frazzled I can think of nowhere else that I would rather be than on top of a mountain concentrating on nothing else but my quarry, or the sky, or whatever else I choose to enjoy rather than ruminating negative thoughts.....
GP's and firearms owners have both been subject to knee jerk legislation. We can't predict which firearms owner will "go postal" and randomly start shooting folk no more than we can predict which Doctor will be the next Harold Shipman.
However, professionally, I do think it is useful to know that a suicidal patient has access to firearms. Access to an effective and successful means to kill yourself massively increases the risk of a completed suicide attempt. The suicide rate decreased when town gas was replaced by natural gas for example.
To be fair this argument about means holds true in other situations. In domestic violence one of the risk reduction strategies is to remove sharp knives from the drawers, suicidal airline pilots aren't allowed to fly. Also, It is actually quite tricky to (deliberately) kill yourself with a car nowadays too. It makes interesting philosophical discussion for sure.
Likewise we look after patients who may develop dementia, seizures or other illnesses that could cause them trouble handling a firearm or driving. Again, knowing they have access to firearms or motor vehicle is useful to both us and the police in keeping with the arrangements for HGV drivers, taxi drivers and airline pilots; who would want to be driven on a bus by a driver who had recently developed blackouts or seizures? I certainly would want to be in a hide with someone who may have a seizure and blow my head off either.
Having said that I would love to go shooting with a friend who was feeling low in mood or anxious in the hope it would help them feel better at least for a while
If you have wondered why some GP's are worried, it is difficult. The form is asking for a list of factual statements about certain illnesses and lifestyle choices. The local form asks clear questions like "are there is any mental health/stress related problems" but there was a sentence "anything else you feel is relevant?" or words to that effect which I can see would make many Doctors nervous as this is asking for an opinion. Would you be prepared to sign such an open ended statement? They have made it clear they have their own medical officer who makes the decision on issuing the license but I'm sure many GP's feel they could be held liable in the case of an adverse event despite reassurances to the contrary. Again this is no different to the other private forms and medicals we do so I'm not entirely sure this worry is justified.
The DVLA has crystal clear guidelines on many licenses and illnesses but the same doesn't exist for firearms as yet which is another source of discomfort.
Some GP's take the "bargepole" approach and either charge a ridiculous price, or refuse full stop. That is allowed as these forms are private work and not part of the NHS contract. I feel this is a gross over reaction as we already do similar work e.g. Taxi medicals with no problems commenting on mental health problems and drugs or alcohol. I reckon it is lack of understanding that drives this sort of behaviour rather than anti-shooting opinions of Doctors.
Loads more that can be discussed but wanted to give my perspective-it is a double edged sword and I completely understand why doctors and patients feel nervous about the legislation but hope it doesn't lead to unnecessary ill health and stresses as a result
Happy to discuss - these are my own views and I only represent myself
ken
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