CHICAGO — With frustration mounting over lawmakers’ inaction on gun control, the American Medical Association on Tuesday pressed for a ban on assault weapons and came out against arming teachers as a way to fight what it calls a public health crisis.

At its annual policymaking meeting, the nation’s largest physicians group bowed to unprecedented demands from doctor-members to take a stronger stand on gun violence – a problem the organization says is as menacing as a lethal infectious disease.

A woman looks over a makeshift memorial during a rally at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Monday,. At its annual policymaking meeting, the AMA took a stronger stand on gun violence – a problem the organization says is as menacing as a lethal infectious disease. Associated Press/Matt Slocum

The action comes against a backdrop of recurrent school shootings, everyday street violence in the nation’s inner cities, and rising U.S. suicide rates.

“We as physicians are the witnesses to the human toll of this disease,” Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency-medicine specialist at Brown University, said at the meeting.

AMA delegates voted to adopt several of nearly a dozen gun-related proposals presented from doctor groups that are part of the AMA’s membership. They agreed to:

n Support laws that would require licensing and safety courses for gun owners and registration of all firearms.

n Press for legislation that would allow relatives of suicidal people or those who have threatened imminent violence to seek court-ordered removal of guns from the home.

n Encourage better training for physicians in how to recognize patients at risk for suicide.

n Push for eliminating loopholes in laws preventing the purchase or possession of guns by people found guilty of domestic violence, including expanding such measures to cover convicted stalkers.

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