Gun owners will end up paying higher premiums under Obamacare.
Via Guns
A North Dakota bill to expand where concealed carry permit holders can go while prohibiting physicians from asking questions on guns is facing opposition from health care lobbyists.
In addition to opening places such as churches, concerts, public parks and political rallies, which are currently off limits to permit holders, it also bars doctors and other healthcare workers from asking their patients about firearms ownership.
The House Energy and Natural Resources Committee were debating the measure Thursday, when member organizations representing the health care lobby in the state spoke out solidly against its passage as written.
“Not asking about firearms sets up a physician for malpractice while violating their First Amendment right to free speech,” Courtney Koebele, executive director of the North Dakota Medical Association told the committee, the Associated Press reported. “Simply stated, imposing this provision puts physicians in a perilous position and patients at risk.”
The legislation, HB1241, is sponsored by Minot Republican Rep. Roscoe Streyle.
It aims to modify no less than six sections of the state code to allow for numerous pro-gun reforms. Among these would allow hunters with otherwise legal National Firearms Act-complaint short-barreled rifles to use their guns to harvest game, and authorizing the carry of a loaded firearm in a vehicle.[…]
Extending to Washington, gun rights groups and the health care lobby squared off over President Obama’s nomination for Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy for more than a year due to that candidate’s political activism, which included gun control. However, a lame duck Senate eventually confirmed Murthy last month in a 51-43 vote largely along party lines.