11th Circuit partly Reverses Ruling on Doctors, Records, and Guns

By Dean Weingarten

By Dean Weingarten

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)-
The 11th Circuit has released their en banc ruling on Wollschlaeger v. Florida. They partly reversed the three judge panels ruling on whether doctors have the right to interrogate patients on gun ownership, and record the answers in medical records, outside of reasons concerning individual patient care. The three judge panel had asserted that the state had a compelling interest in protecting Second Amendment rights, and could regulate licensed doctors to do so. The legislation in question is the Firearms Owners’ Privacy Act (FOPA).

The 11Circuit asserted that doctors were merely private actors. As private actors, they have not legal authority to take away patients firearms. From uscourts.gov:

The first problem is that there was no evidence whatsoever before the Florida Legislature that any doctors or medical professionals have taken away patients’ firearms or otherwise infringed on patients’ Second Amendment rights. This evidentiary void is not surprising because doctors and medical professionals, as private actors, do not have any authority (legal or otherwise) to restrict the ownership or possession of firearms by patients (or by anyone else for that matter). The Second Amendment right to own …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand