Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared gun violence to be a public health emergency on Tuesday, calling for a response similar to previous efforts focusing on preventing cigarette smoking and motor vehicle accidents.
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“Taking a public health approach to firearm violence prevention has the potential to curb the alarming trends of firearm-related injury and death in America and the resulting health impacts,” the Surgeon General’s advisory states.
NEW: Today, for the first time in the history of our office, I am issuing a Surgeon General’s Advisory on Firearm Violence. Firearm violence is a public health crisis in America that poses a serious threat to the health and well-being of our country. https://t.co/bNS7xDa96X 1/10 pic.twitter.com/1w43IMMpxA
— Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) June 25, 2024
Murthy calls for a number of possible responses, including banning so-called “assault weapons,” regulating the firearms industry, requiring safe gun storage, implementing “effective firearm removal policies” and universal background checks.
None of those suggestions can be implemented nationwide without legislation passed by Congress, which typically recoils at gun control measures. Some state legislatures, however, have enacted or may consider some of the surgeon general’s proposals.
Surgeon General Murthy said there is “broad agreement” that gun violence is a problem, citing a poll last year that found most Americans worry at least sometimes that a loved one might be injured by a firearm. More than 48,000 Americans died from gun injuries in 2022.
Doctors quickly praised Murthy’s advisory. The American Academy of Family Physicians, for example, has considered gun violence a public health epidemic for over a decade.
“Family physicians have long understood, and have seen first hand, the devastating impact firearm violence has on our patients and the communities we serve,” the group’s president, Steven Furr, said in a statement. (AP)
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Murthy’s advisory drew the ire of gun rights groups, however.
“This is an extension of the Biden Administration’s war on law-abiding gun owners,” Randy Kozuch, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, said in a statement on X.
“The reluctance to prosecute and punish criminals on the part of President Biden and many of his allies is the primary cause of that,” he added.
NRA Statement on the Surgeon General’s Advisory https://t.co/UotMVmE7D1 pic.twitter.com/DoU8mVHEqU
— NRA (@NRA) June 25, 2024
Plenty of others joined the NRA in sounding off on Murthy’s announcement.
If you were honest with the public, you would declare obesity and inactivity national health crises. Use your position to advocate that the government not provide SNAP to anyone with a BMI above 24.9. Advocate for mandatory physical activity in K-12 education with minimum…
— Small Government (@SmallGov4All) June 25, 2024
It’s a “first time in history” because you leftists are using this “crisis” to now go after gun rights, clearly protected by the 2nd Amendment.
it’s not the legally owned guns that are the issue, but you don’t care as long as you can make some end-around the Constitution.
— I love beer! (@LetsFly1969) June 25, 2024
Pro-crime leftist DAs, who coddle career criminals in the name of “equity” & refuse to prosecute gun crimes, are a public health crisis in America.
See, we can play this game too https://t.co/ohk987JblI
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) June 25, 2024
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🚨Biden has officially turned America’s public health agencies into the comms shop of the DNC.
The Surgeon General has nothing to do with #2A policy.
I’d know.
These woke distractions make us less prepared for pandemics.
HHS is now the most political, anti-science in history. https://t.co/FHBczu4dJk
— Brian Harrison (@brianeharrison) June 25, 2024
I’m issuing my own advisory: reframing gun violence as a public health crisis adds nothing to the conversation. It’s not about finding effective policy solutions. It’s a PR campaign to repackage the same radical and ineffective gun control laws, and sell them under a new label. https://t.co/EIb98S8l1f
— Amy Swearer (@AmySwearer) June 25, 2024
Once again, the Biden administration is fearmongering to advance its radical gun grabbing agenda instead of solving the countless real issues facing our country. https://t.co/iPvdD3pV2x
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) June 25, 2024
What’s more, many states are underreporting crime, a fun trick to abet the admin’s false claim of justice, and some cities, like LA, have stopped prosecuting certain crimes altogether or reclassified some violent crimes to reduce from felonies to misdemeanors … 2/
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) June 25, 2024
Bail reform, like in NY, encouraged crimehttps://t.co/AZglHQeN1H … 4/
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) June 25, 2024
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Vaguely blaming firearms while omitting the contribution of the repeat offender driving the crime is lazy, illiberal, and betrays a prejudice against the common firearm owner by comparing them to career criminals, drug dealers, and gang bangers. Stop it. /finis
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) June 25, 2024