Guns In The Home

This story from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette discusses childhood obesity and the fact that it should be diagnosed and treated early. Children's Hospital pediatrician Dr. Sarah O'Brien believes that parents and doctors shouldn't wait to take action when a child exhibits a chronic weight problem. Unfortunately, sometimes doctors hesitate to discuss the subject with parents because they don't want to scare them.

"I personally found that obesity is just as difficult to talk about as discipline and guns in the home and all the other things you have to broach as a pediatrician," O'Brien said.

Hold the phone! Now, I can understand the concern about overweight kids, but what's with this statement about "guns in the home?" Why does a pediatrician have to broach the subject of guns in the home? And, what does she do when she finds out there are guns in the home? Are special dossiers maintained for gun owners?

I wonder if she's also interested in knowing if there are knives in the home such as machetes or Samurai swords. And what about harpoons or crossbows or stashes of explosives? How about pesticides and toxic cleaning solutions?

It would seem to me that what people have in their homes is their business, not the pediatricians. Am I missing something here? Was a law passed that I'm unaware of?