Although I thought that the American College of Physicians (ACP) had exhausted its inventory of socialist ideas with its pronouncements on health care reform, imagine my surprise upon receiving the 1 February 1998 issue of Annals. A small and contrived "survey" of physicians [1], many ill-formed on gun issues, was used to justify the release of a position paper [2] that regurgitated almost verbatim the lunacies of the hardcore antigun lobby. Unfortunately, the word limit of the Letters section prevents my rebutting this absurdly naive document in detail. By use of many studies that have been discredited [3, 4], "factoids" from activists' speeches, and, when all else fails, simple statements of positions without even the pretense of supporting data, the position paper demonstrates that ACP, in searching for rationalizations to justify its antigun bias, has defaulted on its professional obligations of balance and objectivity. Alternate perspectives and data that did not fit the predetermined conclusions were not considered. The Task Force should know that its work thereby represents intellectual, scientific, and, dare I say, moral fraud. "Junk science" on gun issues in the manner of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control [5] is beneath the dignity of ACP.

Reasoned, mature judgment is what I expect of a professional organization, not shrill propaganda. I reject the position paper as currently worded. I implore ACP to rescind it and to convene a balanced panel of experts to reconsider the matter.

Lest you think I am capable only of polemics, I do believe that significant progress can be made with reforms in criminal justice, mental health, counseling, and safety training. In stark contrast to the implications of the position paper, these measures require no massive expansion of government surveillance and power nor erosion of the constitutional freedoms of law-abiding citizens. With my approach, the fundamental rights of the U.S. people are acknowledged as superior to the public posturing of ill-informed, politicized ideologues.