FILE – Surgeon General Vivek Murthy speaks during a panel discussion at the Archewell Foundation in New York City, Oct. 10, 2023. Murthy, the nation's top doctor, declared gun violence a public health crisis on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, due to a rise in firearm injuries and deaths across the country. The recommendation comes as the U.S. grapples with a weekend of mass shootings that left dozens dead or injured. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. surgeon general declared gun violence a public health crisis Tuesday as the country faces a sharp rise in firearm injuries and deaths.
The recommendation, issued by the country's top physician, Dr. Vivek Murthy, comes as the U.S. struggles with a summer weekend of mass shootings that left dozens dead or injured.
“People want to feel safe when they walk through their neighborhoods,” Mursi told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “America should be a place where everyone can go to school, work, the supermarket or church without worrying that their life is at risk.”
To reduce gun deaths, Mursi wants the US to ban automatic rifles, implement universal background checks for gun purchases, regulate the gun industry, enact laws limiting the use of guns in public places and impose penalties for those who fail to store weapons safely.
None of these proposals could be implemented nationwide without legislation passing a federal Congress that is typically hostile to gun control measures, but some state legislatures have either enacted or may be considering some of the surgeon general's proposals.
Mursi 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 will be injured by a gun. More than 48,000 Americans are expected to die from gun injuries in 2022.
Mursi's advice is sure to be controversial and sure to infuriate most Republicans who twice voted against his confirmation over his comments on gun violence.
Mursi has issued warnings about worrying health trends in American life, including social media use and loneliness. He has not issued similar recommendations on gun violence since being appointed surgeon general in 2014, but his efforts were stalled and nearly derailed by the gun lobby and Republicans who objected to his past comments on firearms.
Mursi ultimately promised the Senate that he would “not use my position as Surgeon General as a platform to deliver a strong speech on gun control.”
Then-President Donald Trump fired Mursi from his post in 2017, but President Joe Biden nominated him back to the post in 2021. During his second confirmation hearing, Mursi told senators that declaring guns a public health crisis was not a focus of his new term.
But Biden has been under pressure from some doctors and Democratic advocacy groups to say more, and a group of four former surgeons general has called on the Biden administration to produce a report on the issue in 2022.
“It is time to move this issue from the political sphere to the public health sphere, just as we did with smoking more than half a century ago,” Mursi told The Associated Press.
The 1964 Surgeon General's report, which raised awareness of the dangers of smoking, is credited with playing a major role in eradicating tobacco use and promoting regulation of the tobacco industry.
In his advisory paper, titled “Gun Violence: America's Public Health Crisis,” Murthy noted that children and younger Americans are especially affected by gun violence. In recent years, the rate of gun suicides among Americans under the age of 35 has increased significantly. Research he has collected shows that American children are far more likely to die from gun injuries than children in other countries.
In addition to new restrictions, Mursi has called for increased research on gun violence and for health care systems, which are presumably more compliant with his recommendations, to provide more gun safety training during doctor's visits.
Amanda Seitz, The Associated Press
