The US Surgeon General on Tuesday declared gun violence a public health crisis, driven by the country’s rapidly growing number of injuries and deaths involving firearms.
The advice of Dr. Vivek Murthy, the country’s top doctor, came as the US struggled with another summer weekend marked by mass shootings in which dozens of people were killed or injured.
“People want to be able to walk around their neighborhoods and be safe,” Murthy told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “America should be a place where we can all go to school, go to work, go to the grocery store, go to our house of worship, without having to worry about it endangering our lives.”
To reduce gun deaths, Murthy calls on the US to ban automatic rifles, implement universal background checks for gun purchases, regulate the industry, pass laws restricting their use in public spaces and to punish those who fail to store their weapons safely.
None of these suggestions can be implemented nationwide without legislation being passed by Congress, which typically shies away from gun control measures. However, some state lawmakers have adopted or may be considering some of the surgeon general’s proposals.
Murthy said there is “broad agreement” on that gun violence is a problem, citing a poll last year that found most Americans worry at least sometimes that a loved one could be injured by a firearm. In 2022, more than 48,000 Americans died from gun injuries.
Murthy’s advice promises to be controversial and is sure to infuriate Republican lawmakers, most of whom opposed Murthy’s nomination to the job — twice — because of his statements on gun violence.
Murthy has published warnings about troubling health trends in American life, including: social media use and solitude. He has refrained from issuing a similar opinion on gun violence since his 2014 confirmation as surgeon general was blocked and nearly derailed by the gun lobby and Republicans who opposed his past statements on guns.
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Murthy ultimately promised the Senate that he “had no intention of using my office as surgeon general as a pulpit for gun control.”
Then-President Donald Trump fired Murthy in 2017, but President Joe Biden nominated Murthy again for the job in 2021. During his second confirmation hearing, he told senators that declaring guns a public health crisis would not be his focus during a new term.
But he has faced increasing pressure from some doctors and Democratic advocacy groups to speak out more. A group of four former surgeon generals asked the Biden administration to prepare a report on the problem in 2022.
‘Take this issue out of the political domain’
“Now is the time for us to take this issue out of the realm of politics and into the realm of public health, as we did with smoking more than half a century ago,” Murthy told the AP.
A 1964 report from the surgeon general that raised awareness about the dangers of smoking is largely credited with reducing tobacco use and expediting regulations on the industry.
Children and younger Americans in particular suffer from gun violence, Murthy notes in his advisory entitled “Firearm Violence: A Public Health Crisis in America.” Suicide under gun tariffs have increased significantly in recent years for Americans under 35. Children in the U.S. die from gun wounds at a much higher rate than children in other countries, according to the research he compiled.
In addition to new regulations, Murthy is calling for more research on gun violence and for the health care system — which will likely be more receptive to his advice — to promote gun safety education during doctor visits.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this last week number of gun injuries last year remained above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels for the fourth year in a row. Preliminary CDC data on gun deaths also shows that rates remained worse nationally last year than in 2019, despite a slowdown from peak levels in 2020 and 2021.
a new FBI report That became apparent on Monday active shooters violent attacks on members of the public in the US between 2019 and 2023, at a rate 89% higher than in the previous five-year period. Last year, 105 people were killed in active shootings, the highest level in recent years.
The public safety figures released Monday by federal investigators show a mix of slight year-over-year improvements in some areas of concern across the country — including a 4% decline in active shootings in 2023 compared to 2022 — and small declines in other metrics . such as total numbers of victims and ‘mass murders’.
Across the US, 244 victims were shot by active shooters last year; 139 were injured and 105 were killed. Compared to the previous year, the total number of casualties (injuries and deaths combined) decreased from 313 in 2022, but five more people died in 2023 than in 2022.
Alexander Tin and Rob Legare contributed to this report.
