Suffolk DA backs universal background checks for gun purchases

[flamin lib]

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/05/01/suffolk-conley-tells-doctors-group-that-gun-violence-prevention-will-improve-public-health/MGNfF6ACDaxXdyqFbmMiUP/story.html

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley endorsed a slate of gun violence prevention strategies Friday, including universal background checks, restrictions on civilian use of military-style assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, and more research into gun-violence prevention, during an address to the American College of Physicians in Boston Friday.
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The article notes that 32,000 people each year die in America as a result of firearm-related violence, suicides, and accidents, and lays out a series of recommendations.

It calls for background checks to be a universal requirement for all gun purchases or transfers of ownership; improved access to mental health care; restrictions for civilian use on the manufacture and sale of large-capacity magazines and firearms; and research on the causes and consequences of firearm violence.

It calls for legislators constructing reporting laws that compel health professionals to report patients showing signs of violence to do so in a thoughtful way that protects confidentiality and does not deter people from seeking help. And it opposes state and federal mandates that forbid physicians from discussing gun ownership with patients, noting that physicians must be allowed to speak freely with patients about health and firearm safety.

The study by the American College of Physicians has been endorsed by almost every other medical association in the country. There has been almost no research into gun violence since the Republican congress cut funding to the CDC by the exact amount that it was spending on gun research sending a clear message that any such research would lead to further funding cuts. The entire medical community is calling for gun violence to be treated as a medical emergency.