On Wednesday, November 7, the National Rifle Association, the largest and most influential gun-rights advocacy group in the U.S., wrote derisively about doctors in a defensive tweet. Speaking out against physicians who treat gun wounds and subsequently call for increased gun control, the NRA wrote: "Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane."
Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane. Half of the articles in Annals of Inter… https://t.co/4ciQ0UUZqf— NRA (@NRA) 1541619839.0
America's doctors, who routinely treat injuries caused by guns, did not take kindly to the NRA's belittling tweet.
@NRA @PubMedCommons "Open carry ban decreases fatalities and healthcare utilization even in a state with baseline s… https://t.co/1Oqj4XuLUX— Mary L. Brandt MD (@Mary L. Brandt MD) 1541702905.0
We are not self-important: we are important to the care of others We are not anti-gun: we are anti-bullet holes in… https://t.co/FKXHNFIG5L— Esther Choo MD MPH (@Esther Choo MD MPH) 1541685825.0
@NRA Gun violence is very much our lane. And, advocating for those who have lost their lives and loved ones is our duty.— Tomas Diaz, MD (@Tomas Diaz, MD) 1541690916.0
Medical organizations quickly rose up against the NRA, denouncing the gun advocacy that brought so many new patients to their doors.
The @NRA tells doctors to "stay in their lane" re #GunViolence. We wish we could. Instead, we pledge to talk to our… https://t.co/DhrBIqbHnH— Annals of Int Med (@Annals of Int Med) 1541686650.0
The MMS will do whatever it takes to save lives. Staying in our lane will not save lives. https://t.co/eD23xVZVPG— Mass Medical Society (@Mass Medical Society) 1541724985.0
Some doctors shared harrowing stories of gun violence made possible by groups like the NRA.
@NRA Moments you always remember. Furious honking in the ambulance bay. Picking up the lifeless 12 yo from the fron… https://t.co/ZDgGtcJN4O— Dr. Howie Mell (@Dr. Howie Mell) 1541813243.0
@NRA Moments you always remember. Grandmother shot in the neck. 16 yo dead on scene. Shooter in next bay getting fu… https://t.co/FJKHaZWi3A— Dr. Howie Mell (@Dr. Howie Mell) 1541813515.0
@NRA Moments you always remember. Medics furiously doing CPR on an 8 yo. Small hole just above left eye. Best frien… https://t.co/2LwLq78o7U— Dr. Howie Mell (@Dr. Howie Mell) 1541813790.0
Physicians of all forms stepped up to speak in favor of gun control.
@DrHowieMell @NRA Hospital social worker here. The trauma of this work is real. For doctors who do everything to sa… https://t.co/PlIfyDYvuH— SJ Stodgun (@SJ Stodgun) 1541817506.0
@NRA #GunViolence in the U.S. compares to that of the most violent countries. In a 2013 article for The Atlantic, t… https://t.co/w9Cxl7DZnf— Jenny Bencardino MD (@Jenny Bencardino MD) 1541839454.0
@NRA Doctor of Physical Therapy here...my lane is helping people reclaim their lives after it’s literally been blow… https://t.co/R3iYgrJQLI— Magnolia_981 (@Magnolia_981) 1541803408.0
@NRA Ask a survivor of gun violence. Or any doctor or nurse or medical professional that deals with the fallout. Ev… https://t.co/21X2ti3mD0— Magnolia_981 (@Magnolia_981) 1541803419.0
Making fun of life-saving doctors is very rarely a good move.
@NRA Someone should tell the @NRA that slaughtered children in schools, concert goers, church members, etc is a bad… https://t.co/0RmSFUZrY4— Michael Bizzaro (@Michael Bizzaro) 1541805599.0
@HuffPost Trauma staff are intimately familiar with what gun violence does to the human body and to the families wh… https://t.co/44WNoCIBwk— Elizabeth Jeser (@Elizabeth Jeser) 1541729114.0
Could the NRA do what these doctors do?
@NRA @nra This is the chest x-ray of my 15 year old patient shot by an R.I.P. bullet, how many of those fragments c… https://t.co/mrBNsZtm5b— Ellie Curtis (@Ellie Curtis) 1541814094.0
Hey @NRA, so a 4 year old comes into the ER with a GSW to the chest, but it hasn't crossed the midline. Please inf… https://t.co/rODfrbqIjL— pachec (@pachec) 1541810929.0
Should anyone who fears further gun violence in America simply stay in their own lane?
@HuffPost Next up, "self important anti-gun" priests attempting to console the grieving will be directed to "stay in your lane" or else.— MaterialMattersLLC (@MaterialMattersLLC) 1541728006.0
I’m an animal doctor. Those poor guys have neither the right to carry nor the capacity to defend themselves from ev… https://t.co/4YGFdsqD9Q— DawgDocBrad 💊 (@DawgDocBrad 💊) 1541785326.0
Through your tears, now stop & imagine the doctors & the medical teams who gave their all to save this young man, &… https://t.co/1aXJtxqnR7— Mary H (@Mary H) 1541710173.0
At the end of the day, Twitter users seemed to realize whose lane was whose.
@thehill When the doctors have to treat dying patients due to gunshot wounds, isnt that their lane?— C.M.B. (@C.M.B.) 1541715617.0
@MSNBC And to the NRA: stay in your lane and keep your money out of politics— Karma Police (@Karma Police) 1541728951.0