Tuesday July 8, 2025
  • Venezuela
  • Mexico
  • Colombia
  • Chile
  • Brazil
  • Argentina
  • Podcast
Versión Español
PanAm Post
  • Home
  • Regions
    • South America
    • North America
    • Central America
    • Caribbean
  • Politics
  • Economics
  • Opinion
  • Podcast
  • Authors
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Regions
    • South America
    • North America
    • Central America
    • Caribbean
  • Politics
  • Economics
  • Opinion
  • Podcast
  • Authors
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result
PanAm Post
No Result
View All Result

Home » Free Speech under the Gun of Florida’s Occupational Licensing

Free Speech under the Gun of Florida’s Occupational Licensing

Guest Contributor by Guest Contributor
August 12, 2014
in Cronyism, Free Speech, North America, Opinion, Society, United States
FacebookTwitterTelegramWhatsapp

EspañolBy Rebecca Furdek

While many US Americans would be happy to be relieved of awkward conversations with their doctors, one Florida law is silencing the medical profession for all the wrong reasons. Recently, the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld a 2011 law that criminalizes doctors who ask their patients if they own a gun.

RelatedArticles

CNN Fake News: The Network’s Efforts to Justify Its Actions May Be Worse than Its Actual Flawed Reporting

CNN’s audience in 2024 was the lowest in its history

December 21, 2024
The silence of the Democrats will be the main course on Thanksgiving

The silence of the Democrats will be the main course on Thanksgiving

November 28, 2024

The case, Wollschlaeger v. Governor of Florida, affirms the constitutionality of the Florida Firearm Owners Privacy Act, which threatens doctors with disciplinary action if they ask patients about gun ownership when not directly relevant to a patient’s “medical care.” Broadly, the court claims that asking questions constitutes medical care (professional conduct), and thus is not First Amendment-protected speech.

Regardless of whether inquiring about gun ownership is ever tangentially helpful to providing medical care or advice, laws like Florida’s hinder our First Amendment right to free speech — even if it’s socially awkward small talk at a doctor’s office.

Opponents of the law, such as the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, believe that the freedom to ask this question ultimately promotes the public health. Unsurprisingly, there has been a media outcry from doctors and their allies since the law has passed, outraged at how the First Amendment is being “silenced by the Second.”

(NRA Facebook)
The National Rifle Association. (NRA Facebook)

Meanwhile, champions of the law, including the National Rifle Association (NRA), agree with the court. These strong lobby interests suggest a move to protect paleoconservative interests (such as gun rights) in light of scandals such as the recent targeting of Tea Party groups by the Internal Revenue Service. Proponents also believe that in many cases, it’s simply none of a doctor’s business.

The NRA may be absolutely right that a doctor has no reason to inquire about gun-ownership status. Such questioning may even be a result of the doctor’s ideological disdain for guns. However, the First Amendment allows for these annoying interactions.

In fact, both sides here are missing the greater danger that laws like Florida’s pose. The underlying problem is occupational licensing: a regime that increasingly places bureaucratic barriers to entry and onerous rules on almost one-third of all occupations.

The United States is replacing traditional labor employment with service-based professions which, by definition, rely heavily on interaction and speech. As such, the increase in broad licensing requirements has begun to blur into the realm of speech.

Sadly, this is not the first time that the professional-client relationship has been censored in recent years.

Last year, John Rosemond, the longest-running advice columnist in the United States, was told to stop writing simple parenting advice in a news column. A Kentucky attorney general determined his work to be occupational “conduct” that the state could regulate.

In North Carolina, the state Board of Dietetics/Nutrition redlined a layman’s blog, the Diabetes Warrior, about his experience with the Paleolithic diet. They also deemed his advice to others, such as “I do suggest that your friend eat as I do and exercise as best they can,” to be professional conduct. The board mandated 900 hours of nutrition-related classes before he could continue speaking.

This is censorship, plain and simple. If nothing else, these cases highlight the fallacy, illogic, and potential for political abuse of occupational-licensing regimes. The Florida law also presents a rare opportunity, in this era of unprecedented partisanship, for adherents of various ideologies to seek reform.

Progressives should be concerned with the clear potential for lobbyists to use occupational licensing to pass legislation for their self-interested goals. The cigarette lobby, for example, could readily pass a law making it illegal for doctors to ask their patients if they smoke. Likewise, civil libertarians should be concerned by the clear potential for abuse upon their own fundamental right to speak professionally.

In an era of bipartisan gridlock, maintaining our freedom to speak about all issues — even those we disagree on, such as gun ownership — is something all parties can get behind.

Rebecca Furdek is a Young Voices Advocate and law clerk based out of Washington, DC.

Tags: floridagun rights
Guest Contributor

Guest Contributor

Related Posts

CNN Fake News: The Network’s Efforts to Justify Its Actions May Be Worse than Its Actual Flawed Reporting
Ideology

CNN’s audience in 2024 was the lowest in its history

December 21, 2024
The silence of the Democrats will be the main course on Thanksgiving
Culture

The silence of the Democrats will be the main course on Thanksgiving

November 28, 2024
These are the 21 individuals sanctioned by the U.S. for fraud and repression in Venezuela
Elections

These are the 21 individuals sanctioned by the U.S. for fraud and repression in Venezuela

November 27, 2024
Can Socialism Compete “On Equal Terms” in the Field of Ideas?
Argentina

Can Socialism Compete “On Equal Terms” in the Field of Ideas?

November 20, 2024
In one of Palermo's most iconic venues, Paul Corban played for an intimate audience, surrounded by flickering candles and the rhythmic murmur of Malbec glasses clinking together.
Culture

The Paul Corban Experience: A Night to Be Thankful For

November 17, 2024
The Democratic campaign organized celebrity concerts in the seven key states, all of which they ended up losing. (EFE)
Columnists

The Only Thing Kamala Harris Won in the Election: Debt and Hollywood’s Useless Support

November 12, 2024
Next Post
Blast from the Past: Bachelet Revives Chile’s 20th-Century Disaster

Blast from the Past: Bachelet Revives Chile's 20th-Century Disaster

Subscribe free and never miss another breaking story

  • Venezuela
  • Mexico
  • Colombia
  • Chile
  • Brazil
  • Argentina
  • Podcast

© 2024 PanAm Post - Design & Develop by NEW DREAM GLOBAL CORP. - Privacy policy

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Regions
    • South America
    • North America
    • Central America
    • Caribbean
  • Politics
  • Economics
  • Opinion
  • Podcast
  • Authors
  • Contact

© 2024 PanAm Post - Design & Develop by NEW DREAM GLOBAL CORP. - Privacy policy

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Privacy and Cookie Policy.