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Biden Administration's War on Gun Owners Continues With Latest Announcement From Surgeon General

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  June 26, 2024 9:00 AM

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.

“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.  

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)

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. 

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“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.

Plenty of others joined the NRA in sounding off on Murthy's announcement.