There have been many calls for physicians to enter the political discourse on gun control by viewing “gun violence” as a “disease.” The medical metaphor for social problems is seductive, but has many pitfalls. Studies have shown that metaphors create significant cognitive bias regarding both the perception of the problem and can dictate the solutions that are considered. It creates an authoritarian approach to social problems that can have severe negative consequences. These problems have appeared in the use of the metaphor of “gun violence as disease.” Adherence to this metaphor has resulted in the substitution of advocacy for academic integrity and has damaged the credibility of the medical community.
CantonR.Not another medical model: Using metaphor and analogy to explore crime and criminal justice. Br J Community Justice.2010; 8(1): 40–57.
2.
ThibodeauP.H.McClellandJ.L.BoroditskyL.When a bad metaphor may not be a victimless crime: the role of metaphor in social policy. In: TaatgenN.van RijnH., editors. Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society; 2009 29 Jul- 1 Aug; Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Cognitive Science Society; 2009. p. 809–14.
3.
ThibodeauP.H.BoroditskyL.Metaphors we think with: the role of metaphor in reasoning. PLoS One.2011 Feb 23; 6(2): e16782.
MacNamaraD.E.J.The medical model in corrections: requiescat in pace. Criminology.1977 Feb; 14(4): 439–48.
6.
FitzpatrickM.The tyranny of health: doctors and the regulation of lifestyle.London: Routledge; 2000. 208 p.
7.
ShiellA.HaweP.Health promotion community development and the tyranny of individualism. Health Econ.1996 May-Jun; 5(3): 241–7.
8.
RelmanA.S.Education to defend professional values in the new corporate age. Acad Med.1998 Dec; 73(12): 1229–33.
9.
StefanisC.N.ReisbyN.The involvement of the World Psychiatric Association in the issue of the political abuse of psychiatry. Acta Psychiatr Scand.1993; 370(Suppl): 14–8.
10.
RyleJ.A.Medicine and eugenics. Eugen Rev.1938 Apr; 30(1): 9–19.
11.
ColaianniA.A long shadow: Nazi doctors, moral vulnerability and contemporary medical culture. J Med Ethics.2012 Jul; 38(7): 435–8.
12.
GrodinM.AnnasG.Physicians and torture: lessons from the Nazi doctors. Int Rev Red Cross.2007 Sep; 89(867): 635–54.
13.
WrightJ.P.DietrichK.N.RisM.D.Association of prenatal and childhood blood lead concentrations with criminal arrests in early adulthood. PLoS Med.2008 May 27; 5(5): e101.
14.
NevinR.Understanding international crime trends: the legacy of preschool lead exposure. Environ Res.2007 Jul; 104(3): 315–36.
15.
StreteskyP.B.LynchM.J.The relationship between lead and crime. J Health Soc Behav.2004 Jun; 45(2): 214–29.
16.
MielkeH.W.ZahranS.The urban rise and fall of air lead (Pb) and the latent surge and retreat of societal violence. Environ Int.2012 Aug; 43: 48–55.
17.
DonohueJJIIILevittS.D.The impact of legalized abortion on crime. Q J Econ.2001 May; 116(2): 379–420.
18.
Pop-ElechesC.The impact of an abortion ban on socioeconomic outcomes of children: evidence from Romania. J Political Econ.2006 Aug; 114(4): 744–73.
19.
LevittS.D.Understanding why crime fell in the 1990s: four factors that explain the decline and six that do not. J Econ Perspect.2004 Winter; 18(1): 163–90.
20.
Estrada-MartinezL.M.PadillaM.B.CaldwellC.H.SchulzA.J.Examining the influence of family environments on youth violence: a comparison of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, non-Latino Black, and non-Latino White adolescents. J Youth Adolesc.2011 Aug; 40(8): 1039–51.
21.
KleckG.HoganM.National case-control study of homicide-offending and gun ownership. Soc Probl.199946(2): 275–93.
22.
LottJ.R.More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws.3rd ed.Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 2010. 472 p.
23.
Mark Duggan, More guns, more crime. J Pol Econ.2001 Oct; 109(5): 1086–110.
24.
LottJ.R.Guns, crime and safety: introduction. J Law Econ.2001 Oct; 44(S2): 605–14.
25.
PlassmanF.WhitleyJ.Confirming more guns less crime. Stanford Law Rev.2003 Apr; 55(4): 1313–69.
26.
MustardD.Culture affects our beliefs about firearms but data are also important. Univ Pa Law Rev.2003; 151: 1387–94.
27.
KellermanA.L.RivaraF.P.RushforthN.B.Gun ownership as a risk factor for homicide in the home. N Engl J Med.1993 Oct 7; 329(15): 1084–91.
28.
KleckG.Can owning a gun really triple the owner's chances of being murdered: the anatomy of an implausible causal mechanism. Homicide Stud.2001 Feb; 5(1): 64–77.
29.
HemenwayD.Preventing gun violence by changing social norms. JAMA Intern Med.2013 Apr; 22: 1–2.
30.
HemenwayD.MillerM.Public health approach to the prevention of gun violence. N Engl J Med.2013 May 23; 368(21): 2033–5.
31.
MakariosM.D.PrattT.C.The effectiveness of policies and programs that attempt to reduce firearm violence: A meta-analysis. Crime Delinquency.2012 Mar; 58(3): 222–44.
32.
KatesD.B.MauserG.Would banning firearms reduce murder and suicide? A review of international and some domestic evidence. Harvard J Law Public Policy.2007 Spring; 30(2): 649–94.
33.
SloanJ.H.KellermannA.L.ReayD.T.Handgun regulations, crime, assaults, and homicide. A tale of two cities. N Engl J Med.1988 Nov 10; 319(19): 1256–62.
34.
QuimetM.Crime in Canada and the United States. Can Rev Sociol.1999 Aug; 36(3): 389–408.
35.
CenterwallB.S.Homicide and the prevalence of handguns: Canada and the United States, 1976 to 1980. Am J Epidemiol.1991 Dec 1; 134(11): 1245–60.
36.
LangmannC.Canadian firearms legislation and effects on homicide 1974 to 2008. J Interpers Violence.2012 Feb; 27(12): 2303–21.
37.
LottJ.R.What a balancing test will show for right-to-carry laws. Md Law Rev.2012 Oct; 71(4): 1205–18.
MauserG.Gun control in the United States. Criminal Law Forum.1991 Autumn; 3(1): 147–59.
41.
GatesD.B.SchaefferH.E.LattimerJ.K.Guns and public health: Epidemic of violence or pandemic of propaganda?Tenn Law Rev.1995 Spring; 513–96.
42.
KellermannA.L.RivaraF.P.Silencing the science on gun research. JAMA.2013 Feb 13; 309(6): 549–50.
43.
WintemuteG.J.Responding to the crisis of firearm violence in the United States : comment on “Firearm legislation and firearm-related fatalities in the United States”. JAMA Intern Med.2013 Mar 6: 1–2.
