NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — In an effort to protect the constitutional rights of gun owners in Tennessee, lawmakers have filed a bill that would prohibit healthcare providers from asking patients if they own firearms.
The bill, filed by Rep. Ed Butler (R-Rickman), is intended to protect the rights of Tennesseans who seek medical care from being “discriminated against,” according to the lawmaker.
“My objective was to prevent doctors from discriminating based on whether you own a firearm or not,” Butler told News 2.
According to Butler, he filed the legislation after receiving some phone calls from constituents on the subject.
“I’ve had constituents call because they’ve been asked,” he told News 2. “I don’t know that they necessarily were discriminated against, but the question was asked, which obviously raises concerns for them. That was the genesis for why we drafted this bill.”
The text of the bill, filed last week in the Tennessee General Assembly, stated healthcare providers—except psychiatrists or psychologists—would not be allowed to ask about a patient’s “ownership, possession of, or access to firearm ammunition or firearm accessories.” The bill also prohibits healthcare providers from requiring that information be shared prior to providing healthcare to the patient, nor would they be able to share such information with an insurer or deny providing care based on the information.
Should they do so, a healthcare provider could be subject to disciplinary action from their respective licensing authority and a $1,000 fine for each violation, according to the bill text.
The restrictive nature of the legislation raised alarms for Elizabeth Harrison, a master’s level intern at Pathfinder Counseling Group in Clarksville.
“In reading it, the biggest concern that we have surrounds our duty to warn,” she told News 2.
As someone training to be a licensed professional counselor (LPC), the bill as currently written would inhibit her ability to do her job, she said.
“If we have a client come in and they’re married and they say that they’re going to harm their spouse, if this bill were to pass, we’re not allowed to ask, ‘Do you have firearms in the home?'” she told News 2. “If they are suicidal, we’re not allowed to ask questions about firearms. If we’re working with a teenager and they begin to talk about feelings of wanting to take things out on other people in the school and making threats, we can’t ask about firearms. It severely limits our ability to conduct our fiduciary duties of duty to warn.”
Harrison also said the bill wouldn’t allow for social workers to do their jobs, as they were not included in the current exemptions in the bill text.
However, since he filed the bill, Butler told News 2 he’s planning to amend the legislation to likely rewrite it, citing numerous constituent concerns with the current bill language.
“That was just an oversight; it was not intentional,” Butler said of the restrictive nature of the current bill language.
According to Butler, his office is working on expanding exemptions listed in the bill to include licensed counselors, emergency medical professionals, and all those with a legal “duty to warn” in instances of self-harm or harm to others.
Additionally, Butler told News 2 his staff is looking at other exemptions to the bill language for physicians at standard doctor’s offices in instances of self-harm.
“Even if they come into a doctor’s office, which would be an M.D., if there is some type of suicide risk, or they need to do a suicide risk assessment, then they would be able to do that,” Butler said. “It’s not that we’re trying to prevent somebody from doing their job. I just don’t want somebody not to provide medical services to somebody who has a constitutional right to own a firearm.”
To that end, Butler said he is working to include more mental health professionals as included exemptions, meeting with multiple parties on all sides of the issue to craft new language.
“I think we’re working with everybody here involved to try to get everybody happy with the wording,” he said. “We’re trying to work with all the folks that are in the mental health industry, because I think they need to be able to ask those questions. I’m not trying to prohibit them from preventing somebody from potentially harming themselves, regardless of how they did it.”
Ultimately, Butler said, he wanted to find a good middle ground on the bill that would protect mental health professionals doing their jobs as well as everyday Tennesseans who own firearms.
“We’ve got to protect our constitutional rights, which is the most important thing, but at the same time make sure we’re trying to do what’s best for public safety,” he said.
