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None of your business

I recently visited my primary care physician’s office, which is part of the UPMC system.

The nurse preceded the doctor, took my temperature and blood pressure and asked all the usual medically-related questions. She then asked me if I’d had “weapons safety training.”

I thought that was an odd thing to ask, but I told her that I was a retired federal law enforcement officer and she could draw her own conclusions.

She then asked if there were weapons in my home. What? I declined to answer, explaining that as a law enforcement officer if I asked a citizen such a question they could tell me to go to hell. The nurse explained that she agreed with me but if she stated that I declined to answer the question, the response might be flagged.

Again, what? Flagged? She said the questions were mandated by the government and that there were some on the list she refused to ask me.

Why is the government co-opting the medical profession to acquire private, non-medical information on private citizens? The government already knows whether or not I possess weapons. Why does ATF exist? If the government believes I’m involved in illegal activity, they can find out if I have weapons the old fashioned way: they can develop probable cause that a crime was committed, that I possess evidence, get a search warrant from an impartial judge, and search my home.

What they cannot do is use my personal doctor to sneak in my back door. I won’t let them and neither should anyone else, whether or not they possess weapons. What will the government come after next?

This Orwellian intrusion on the part of a government “of and for the people” must come to a halt.

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