US Surgeon General Releases Public Health Advisory on Firearm Violence

United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

(ConservativeHub.com) – Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in his recent advisory declared that firearm violence is a public health crisis in the United States, arguing that it was not only affecting the direct victims but also had a larger traumatic impact on the rest of the population. 

This is the first time that gun violence has been the subject of a Surgeon General’s public health advisory. Murthy cited recent gun violence statistics in the United States, showing a consistent increase in the number of firearm-related injuries and deaths. The advisory reported that compared to 2019, there were over 8,000 more lives that were lost in 2022 due to firearm-related injuries. In 2022, 48,204 people lost their lives because of firearm-related injuries. 

Murthy said that the problem is not only that firearm deaths are at a record high. According to him, there are significant “reverbrations” caused by these deaths. Murthy told the Hill that for every person who dies, two individuals survive but are injured. There are also those who have witnessed the impact of these events and will often suffer from mental health consequences as a result.

A national survey which was cited in the advisory has found that around 54 percent of adults have a personal experience, or have a family member with personal experience related to a firearm incident. Murthy further stated that gun violence was having a disproportionate effect on children and young people.

Murthy’s advisory offers proposals for Congress to take into consideration. For instance, he wants to see the expansion of background checks, regulation on warning labels, and the prohibition of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

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