Doctor's office asks about guns in the home

I recently encountered the "do you have guns in your home" question in a new-to-me doctor's office. It was on the screening form, and I did not answer the written question either way. When we met and had finished with the medical issues I mentioned to the doctor that asking about guns on the form seemed odd.

He immediately started with the nonsense: 'It's a matter of health that guns should be kept out of the home, etc". I told him I disagreed, and that since we live in a society in which there are daily threats to life and safety, guns must be available to those who want to use them for defense. (I set aside all the other important reasons for the sake of this particular discussion). He shook his head.

I asked him if we live in a violence-free utopia. Had he ever been in a fight of any kind, or robbed, and threatened? Did he know anyone who experienced these things? His non-answer was "well, if guns weren't available wouldn't be less violence?" I laughed out loud. We do not live in a utopia, and there are millions of guns in circulation outside our civilized homes. Would he have the people in those homes be defenseless against that threat? He lectured me about "guns are bad" for a minute or two, and I answered something along the lines, of how humans routinely threaten and assault each other. If guns are not available, then everyone is vulnerable to any bully that is bigger, stronger, meaner, etc... How is that healthy?

As you might expect, the doctor did not seem convinced, and he was getting frustrated with me. I've noticed over the years that some doctors cannot stand any disagreement from patients (or even their assistants or nurses). Luckily, this is not true of most medical professionals, but there are few who are VERY CERTAIN that they are CORRECT at all times and get pretty revved up when a patient contradicts them. This seemed to be one of those doctors.

He started entering some text into the record on the workstation, and asked if there were any children in my home. It seemed like he was adding some kind of record of my views, and was using this as a way to win the disagreement. We no longer had kids at home so that point didn't matter but I resented the vague threat he was implying. I left and when I got home I used the provider web portal to request a different "primary care provider".