Florida to Pay Legal Fees in Case That Kept Doctors From Discussing Guns

By MATTHEW HAAG JULY 24, 2017

Florida has agreed to pay $1.1 million in legal fees to lawyers who sued the state over a 2011 law that barred doctors from talking to patients about gun ownership, according to a gun control organization involved in the case.

The organization, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said Gov. Rick Scott of Florida had approved the reimbursement to lawyers who represented doctors and medical organizations in the case, which came to be known as “Docs v. Glocks.” In February, a federal appeals court overturned the law, siding with medical providers over the state’s powerful gun lobby.

“Florida taxpayers just paid $1.1 million because of the gun industry’s unconstitutional, antitruth agenda designed to increase gun sales at any cost — including children’s lives,” Dan Gross, the president of the Brady Center, said in a statement on Sunday. “Physicians have a critical role to play in preventing these deaths by talking to patients about the true dangers of guns in the home.”

In a statement, a spokesman for Mr. Scott called the governor a “strong supporter of the second amendment.”

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