Florida loses $1.1M over law banning doctors from discussing guns

In 2011, Florida’s legislature and Governor Rick Scott (R) rammed through a ludicrous law that prevented doctors from talking about gun ownership with patients, presumably because the NRA got mad that people whose job it is to save lives tend to question the wisdom of allowing every yokel to run around with a deadly weapon. Under the law, docs risked losing their licenses and getting hit with fines of up to $10,000 for every mention that a patient might not be using their guns safely.

Thankfully, the courts overturned the law in February, and now Florida taxpayers have to shell out $1.1 million in legal fees over the debacle:

Florida has agreed to pay $1.1 million in legal fees to lawyers who sued the state over a 2011 law that barred doctors from talking to patients about gun ownership, according to a gun control organization involved in the case.

The organization, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said Gov. Rick Scott of Florida had approved the reimbursement to lawyers who represented doctors and medical organizations in the case, which came to be known as “Docs v. Glocks.” In February, a federal appeals court overturned the law, siding with medical providers over the state’s powerful gun lobby.

“Florida taxpayers just paid $1.1 million because of the gun industry’s unconstitutional, antitruth agenda designed to increase gun sales at any cost — including children’s lives,” Dan Gross, the president of the Brady Center, said in a statement on Sunday. “Physicians have a critical role to play in preventing these deaths by talking to patients about the true dangers of guns in the home.”

Since people choose to put up with the constant gun-related loss of lives without doing anything about it (voting out gun-shilling politicians, for instance), perhaps the loss of their money will motivate them instead.

Oh, who am I kidding. If nothing changed after Sandy Hook, nothing ever will.

(via Joe.My.God.)