Thoughts and prayers. Our hearts go out to the victims. Don’t politicize this. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. And now… stay in your lane.
That, it seems, is the NRA’s latest talking point. Or, at least, it’s what they tweeted on November 7, one day before a shooting in Thousand Oaks, CA left 12 people dead. The tweet reads: “Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane. Half of the articles in Annals of Internal Medicine are pushing for gun control. Most upsetting, however, the medical community seems to have consulted NO ONE but themselves.”
Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane. Half of the articles in Annals of Internal Medicine are pushing for gun control. Most upsetting, however, the medical community seems to have consulted NO ONE but themselves. https://t.co/oCR3uiLtS7
— NRA (@NRA) November 7, 2018
As anyone who tracks the gun control convos knows, NRA talking points are an ever-moving target, bobbing and weaving to avoid cries for help and demands for change as Americans deal with yet another mass shooting. Whether the pro-gun lobby claims that gun control doesn’t help stymie gun violence or politicians such as Ted Cruz demand that we not politicize such a universally upsetting tragedy, it can be frustrating for gun control proponents to try to find an in — a way to start the long road to recovery and safety. Especially when you the NRA rails against even the simplest gun control measures.
So when the NRA sent that tweet, after the American College of Physicians re-published a paper stating that gun control is a public health issue, doctors were ready to answer the call. They responded quickly and with force: Gun violence is my lane.
Taking to Twitter, doctors all over the U.S. have tweeted how they deal with the effects of gun violence. And using the power of visuals, they’ve posted photos of what gun violence and its aftereffects actually look like, beyond the yellow tape of a crime scene and the optics of parents begging that their children’s deaths not be in vain.
“I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.” -Hippocratic Oath#gunviolence is a national public health crisis and is preventable. 100% #mylane #GunControlNow #Docs4GunSense https://t.co/YAieYsoout
— Erin Herstine (@ErinHerstine) November 9, 2018
Content warning: the following tweets include graphic photos and descriptions of gun violence. Please proceed with caution.
https://twitter.com/drjudymelinek/status/1060912988532629504
To the @NRA, this is what it looks like to stay in #mylane. We will not be silent about the toll of #gunviolence. I speak out for this patient, for their parents who will never be the same, for every person who came after this one and didn’t have to #thisiseveryoneslane pic.twitter.com/B5mo6pC4dV
— Kristin Gee, MD (@kmgee9) November 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/scrubbedin/status/1061235397240541184
.@NRA says docs should “stay in [our] lane.
My lane is a pregnant woman shot in a moment of rage by her partner. She survived because the baby stopped the bullet. Have you ever had to deliver a shattered baby? #ThisisMyLane . What’s yours? #Docs4GunSense
— Stephanie Bonne (@scrubbedin) November 9, 2018
I'm not a phsician, but I work alongside them – and this is #MyLane. If over HALF of the experts in the medical community – using peer-reviewed, empirically evidence-based science in Annals of Internal Medicine – make any kind of claim, you'd better accept it for what it is. pic.twitter.com/7zwzZVyb0D
— Jon Gaddis (@Jongaddis) November 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/scrubbedin/status/1061035641142759426
Single GSW to the head as a drive by. Surprisingly little blood, but plenty of blood curdling screams from this middle schoolers mother when we told her that her baby was dead.
Tell me @NRA how do I get her screams out of my head 4 years later? #ThisIsMyLane #GunControlNow pic.twitter.com/4mtLC5r9Ar
— Dr Vancbromycin 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@Vancbromycin) November 12, 2018
Doctors aren’t the only ones sharing photos and stories of the gruesome nature of gun violence. Kate Ranta, a survivor of domestic violence, tweeted a photo of the crime scene where her partner shot her when she tried to leave him. Her story is a sobering reminder that gun rights (and gun control) don’t exist in a vacuum, and easy access to firearms goes beyond the abstract idea of the Second Amendment.
https://twitter.com/ravinranta/status/1062194027418841088
So when the Americans College of Physicians recommends that we, as a nation, treat gun violence like a public health crisis—and that we do something to address that crisis—now we have a bold and disturbing understanding of how very much gun violence is their lane. Our lanes, too. Everyone’s lanes.
Finally, if you’d like to learn more about how to combat the NRA, we have some thoughts on that you can read here.