Fightin' words: ER docs vs. NRA over gun violence



CONTINUE to see Texas lawmakers who've received money from the NRA. less A row of revolvers is seen during the 2013 NRA annual meetings and exhibits at the George R Brown convention center in Houston. A letter from health care professionals is spreading across the nation and beyond to urge that gun violence be treated like a public health crisis. A row of revolvers is seen during the 2013 NRA annual meetings and exhibits at the George R Brown convention center in Houston. A letter from health care professionals is spreading across the nation and beyond ... more Photo: © TODD SPOTH, 2013, © TODD SPOTH, 2013 / © TODD SPOTH, 2013 Photo: © TODD SPOTH, 2013, © TODD SPOTH, 2013 / © TODD SPOTH, 2013 Image 1 of / 33 Caption Close Fightin' words: ER docs vs. NRA over gun violence 1 / 33 Back to Gallery

Emergency room physicians did not take kindly to being scolded last week by the National Rifle Association to "stay in their lane" and not get involved in the nation's gun debate.

As of Monday morning, 26,000 doctors, nurses, paramedics, social workers and other health professionals, including some in Houston, had signed an open letter to the NRA, penned Friday night and headlined "Gun Violence Is Our Lane." In addition, the hashtag #ThisISOurLane continues to grow and has spread outside the United States.

READ LETTER: This is Our Lane: An Open Letter to the NRA from American Healthcare Professionals

"As an emergency physician, I see the injuries and death toll from guns as part of my daily routine," said Dr. Cedric Dark, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine who also treats patients at Ben Taub Hospital, one of the nation's busiest Level I trauma centers.

"The NRA would have the American people discount the years of medical school, residency training and practice experience of emergency physicians, trauma surgeons, nurses and countless other health care professionals in order to cry 'fake news' to the scientific data we have about how to prevent loss of life," Dark said.

The dust-up began over an Oct. 30 position paper by doctors published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, an academic medical journal published by the American College of Physicians. The physician authors called for gun violence to be treated as a public health crisis and urged reasonable restrictions on gun purchases. They also asked for the freedom to speak to patients about gun safety.

READ THE PAPER: Reducing Firearm Injuries and Deaths in the United States: A Position Paper From the American College of Physicians

Three days later, the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action responded with its own position paper that began: "Everyone has hobbies. Some doctors' collective hobby is opining on firearms policy."

READ THE NRA RESPONSE: Surprise: Physician Group Rehashes Same Tired Gun Control Policies

But things really heated up on Nov. 7 when the NRA, in promoting its paper, tweeted: "Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane."

And it was on. Doctors around the country quickly slammed the tweet, creating #ThisISOurLane."

That same night, a gunman opened fire at a bar in Thousand Oaks, Calif., killing 13 people, including a police officer and the shooter. About a dozen others were wounded. One of the dead had survived the mass shooting in Las Vegas just a year before.

"It didn't even make 12 hours until the next shooting," Dark said Monday about the NRA's tweet.

RELATED: Measures outlined to help reduce gun violence in Houston

The NRA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Dr. Megan Ranney, a Rhode Island physician and chief research officer for AFFIRM, a national nonprofit organization that studies gun violence, wrote the letter to the NRA in response to the rapidly cascading events and, in part, out of frustration.

"With each time, we say this is the tipping point," she said Monday.

In her letter she writes: "We are not anti-gun. We are anti-bullet-hole."

She conceded she was surprised by the number of doctors who have signed on for the fight and the attention the protest is stirring. She said she was scheduled to be interviewed by the BBC later Monday.

"I think the time is here," she said.