Members of the American Medical Association (AMA) are reportedly planning to prod the organization into backing several new gun control proposals when they meet June 9-13 in Chicago, according to Forbes.
It’s a political move that Second Amendment activists might compare to medical malpractice. It might even bring a reaction from Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership, a project of the Second Amendment Foundation.
Among the proposals outlined by Forbes are:
- Strengthen the background check system for firearms, apparently including so-called “universal background checks”
- Increasing the legal age of purchasing ammunition and firearms from 18 to 21. This has been hotly discussed since the attack on a Florida high school in February.
- Ban the sale of bump stocks. While the devices have been used in a single high-profile crime (Las Vegas), anti-gunners want them gone.
- Ban on semi-automatic assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines.
But what does this do to responsible teens and young adults? Earlier generations saw people in this age group taking guns to school for after-hours hunting trips or participation on school rifle teams, when nobody suffered so much as a scratch on campus, much less a gunshot wound. Teens could purchase ammunition for their rifles or shotguns and nobody raised an eyebrow.
As noted earlier this week, rifles of any kind, including so-called “assault rifles” that are semiautomatic modern sporting rifles (MSRs), are still used in a fraction of homicides, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Statistics. It comes to about 2-3 percent of all gun-related slayings.
That fact may play in opposition to initiatives in Oregon and Washington. The effort in Oregon is to outright ban such firearms, while the Washington campaign – if it gets off the ground following current court challenges – is aimed at preventing young adults from purchasing MSRs.
As noted by Seattle P-I.com writer Joel Connelly, “A Thurston County court battle over ballot title language has held up the printing of petitions and sending signature mercenaries to ferry docks and Wal-Mart doors to collect signatures…The campaign may be left with about a month to come up with the 259,622 signatures, plus a cushion. It will pay through the nose for them.”
There are at least three separate challenges to the Initiative 1639 ballot title. A hearing is scheduled in Thurston County Superior Court on June 7. If the measure gets on the ballot, there could be a hot political battle.
Still, when the AMA meddles in gun control politics, many rights activists consider it to be engaging in voodoo medicine. 
