Florida law restricting doctors' gun talk blocked by federal judge

Judge Marcia G. Cooke said doctors had a First Amendment right to ask about firearms, and she rapped the state’s lawyers for failing to provide more than anecdotal evidence to show the law was needed.

“The State has attempted to inveigle this Court to cast this matter as a Second Amendment case,” Cooke wrote. “Despite the State’s insistence that the right to “keep arms” is the primary constitutional right at issue in this litigation, a plain reading of the statute reveals that this law in no way affects such rights.”

Gov. Rick Scott, who signed the “Firearm Owners’ Privacy Act into law June 2nd vowed to appeal

“The privacy of firearm owners’ legislation was carefully crafted to respect the First Amendment. We plan to appeal the judge’s block, and we’re confident we’ll win the appeal,” Scott’s office said in a written statement.

In an interesting twist, the judge arrived at her ruling, in part, based on a free-speech case brought by Scott’s former chain of urgent-care clinics, Solantic, which sued the City of Neptune Beach over a sign ordinance.

Under that ruling, an appeals court said that in some free-speech cases “a law must constitute the least restrictive means of advancing a compelling government interest,” Cooke wrote.

The firearm law didn’t prohibit doctors outright from asking about guns; it said they should refrain from inquiring about firearm ownership unless there’s a compelling medical reason.

Many doctors don’t ask about firearms, but some pediatricians do – in addition to inquiring about pools and drugs in the home. But some Medicaid patients in the Panhandle and in Ocala complained that the questions about guns infringed on their privacy, and they complained to lawmakers.

Originally, the legislation banned doctors from asking about firearms at all. But the National Rifle Association and the Florida Medical Association agreed on compromise legislation that said doctors “should” refrain from the line of questioning. The bill then passed the Legislature.

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