Why Should Doctors Ask Patients About Their Guns?

In the Wall Street Journal, a physician tells us that

The Health and Public Policy Committee of the American College of Physicians has recommended that this question be added to the litany of queries doctors ask our patients during routine visits. Do you smoke? Do you practice protected sex? Have you had your flu vaccination? Are any firearms kept in or around your home?

Dr. Jerald Winakur views this initiative with skepticism. Suppose a patient answers, “Yes.” Then what? Is there anyone who is not aware the lethality of guns? And if there is such a person, should we expect that his internist would somehow be able to enlighten him? Or, say, the patient says that he has a couple of dozen guns at home. Does the doctor then suggest that maybe he might want to cut back a little and, while he is at it, stop putting so much salt on his food?