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Washington: Last month's Supreme Court ruling striking down a strict gun control law in the US capital will lead to more deaths and accidental injuries, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine said on Wednesday.
They joined a growing clamour from medical doctors, especially emergency room physicians, who fear a surge of accidental deaths, murders and suicides if handguns become more easily available than they already are.
The ruling struck down a law in Washington that forbade personal ownership of handguns. The court made explicit, for the first time, that Americans had rights as individuals to own guns.
It won praise from President George W. Bush, John McCain and guns rights advocates. But gun control groups expressed concern about new legal attacks on existing gun laws.
Justice Antonin Scalia, who voted with the 5-4 majority on the decision, said citizens may prefer handguns for home defense because they "can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police."
The three editors of the medical journal wrote in a commentary in the latest issue: "In our opinion, there is little reason to expect an optimistic result".
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