By: Joshua Paladino
The American Medical Association House of Delegates voted for a resolution to support a nationwide ban on the sale and ownership of “assault style weapons.”
The group also voted to support a nationwide gun-owners database, a 21-year-old age requirement for all firearms purchases, and greater restrictions on individuals with histories of domestic violence.
The AMA also requested that law enforcement have the right disarm people who are potentially suicide and possess firearms. Nearly two-thirds of the 30,000 people who die from a gun each year commit suicide, according to the Department of Justice.
At the same meeting, the American Medical Association voted to reconsider its long-standing opposition to physician-assisted suicide. The AMA’s current policy, according to its Code of Medical Ethics says, “Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks.”
It continues: “Instead of engaging in assisted suicide, physicians must aggressively respond to the needs of patients at the end of life. Physicians should not abandon a patient once it is determined that cure is impossible.”
An AMA council studied physician-assisted suicide for the past two years and concluded that the group should remain opposed or neutral to the practice. The AMA House of Delegates, however, rejected the conclusion, with 56 percent of the delegates voting to continue to review the issue.
