The US surgeon general has declared gun violence to be a public health emergency on Tuesday. This is due to the rapidly increasing number of cases of injuries and deaths caused by firearms in the United States.
Dr. Vivek Murthy, the country’s top doctor, issued a warning as America entered another summer weekend filled with killings leaving many dead or injured through mass shootings.
In an interview over the phone with The Associated Press, Murthy said: “People just want to walk through the streets of their neighborhoods feeling safe,” adding: “our students should feel more comfortable about going to class; we shouldn’t have to worry that descending into our shopping centers will endanger our lives.”
Murthy calls for beaching in automatic rifles and introducing background checks for everyone buying guns, regulating the industry, enacting laws that would limit usage within public spaces and punishing those who would not store their weapons safely as ways of reducing gun deaths.
None of these proposals can be implemented at a national level without Congress passing legislation, which it usually shies away from when it comes to gun control measures. Nevertheless, some state legislatures have adopted or may consider some of those ideas put forward by the surgeon general.
According to Surgeon General Murthy who referred to last year’s poll showing that most Americans fear occasionally that one among their loved ones might get hurt by a firearm there is “overwhelming consensus” that gun violence is bad. In 2022 alone, more than 48,000 Americans died from gunshot wounds.
Doctors hailed Murthy’s advisory in no time at all after it was publish. For instance, American Academy of Family Physicians has regarded firearms violence as a public health pandemic since over ten years back.
“Our family doctors have witnessed firsthand how devastating firearm violence is on our patients and communities,” Steven Furr President explained in his statement released by this group.
However there are indications that his advice could become contentious among Republicans especially those backed up by the gun lobby, as most of them opposed his nomination twice for that job because of his statements on gun violence.
The National Rifle Association was quick to condemn Murthy’s advisory.
“This simply furthers President Biden’s assault on American gun owners,” commented Randy Kozuch, the NRA President in an X statement.
It was Republicans and members of the NRA who nearly derailed Murthy’s appointment to surgeon general almost a decade ago; however, he subsequently stopped speaking up about the issue of firearm violence since his earlier statements had nearly cost him his job. In response to several Senators’ questions regarding what he plans to do with regards to gun control issues he is said to have told them “I will not use my position as Surgeon General as a bully pulpit for gun control.”
Then-President Donald Trump fired Murthy in 2017 but President Joe Biden re-nominated him to the position in 2021.
Murthy has written warnings about disturbing trends affecting health in America like loneliness and social media use. For example, this month alone, through a letter published on The New York Times, he noted that social media accounts were exacerbating mental illnesses among America’s youth suggesting Congress should mandate that such platforms carry warning signs just as cigarette packs do.
However, he has also been under mounting pressure from some doctors and democrat advocacy groups to be more vocal. In 2022 a group of four former Surgeon Generals asked the Biden administration to submit a report on this problem.
“It’s time for us to take this matter out of politics and put it in public health like we did with smoking over fifty years ago,” said Murthy to AP.
It was a 1964 report from the surgeon general that raised awareness about the dangers of smoking is largely credited with reducing tobacco use and precipitating regulations on the industry.
Murthy hopes that his advisory on guns will help change the conversation around this issue as well. He has seen some developments in Congress, including passing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022 which improved background checks for firearms.
The White House report, obtained by The Associated Press, reveals that better background checks have prevented nearly 800 sales of firearms to people below 21 years old. Furthermore, over five hundred individuals – including members of transnational cartels and organize crime networks – have been indicte for gun running and other offenses under the landmark gun safety legislation.
Children and young adults are particularly at risk for gun violence according to Dr Murthy’s advisory “Firearm Violence: A Public Health Crisis in America.” Suicide rates by guns have gone up almost seventy percent among those aged ten through fourteen years. This study showed that US children are much more likely than children in other countries to die from gunshot wounds.
“Having access to a firearm for a child who is experiencing a behavioral health crisis is an absolute recipe for the most tragic things you can imagine,” Hoffman said.
“Pediatricians routinely talk with families about locking their guns away from their children during well visits,” said Benjamin Hoffman, president of the American Academy Pediatrics. Denying children access to guns eliminates a big percentage of gun deaths and accidents—suicides or accidental shootings.
“No one should have the ability to put a firearm in the hands of a child going through something like a mental health crisis,” said Hoffman.
Even when children are not direct victims of gun shootings, they may still suffer from mental health impacts caused by gun violence, according to the report. Among US teens, about half worry about school shootings. And in areas with a deadly shooting at a school, youth antidepressant use rises by over 20%.”
Dr Murthy also calls for increased research into gun violence and for health systems to encourage. And educate patients about proper storage and gun safety during check-ups.
