The surgeon general says widespread gun violence has caused “unimaginable pain” to victims across the country.
US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has declared gun violence a public health crisis in the United States.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Murthy called for stricter laws to limit the widespread availability of firearms, which many blame for the country’s unparalleled levels of gun violence.
“Gun violence is an urgent public health crisis that has led to loss of life, unimaginable pain and deep grief for too many Americans,” Murthy said in a statement.
While high-profile mass shootings attract a large share of the attention, daily gun violence is a persistent threat that has led to a grim trend of increasing gun injuries and deaths. Murthy noted Tuesday that young people and communities of color are especially affected.
The impact of gun violence on young people has been particularly devastating. As shared in my new Surgeon General’s Advisory, gun violence is now the leading cause of death among children and teens. pic.twitter.com/S6SyXrJpgS
– Dr. Vivek Murthy, US Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) June 25, 2024
It is unclear what changes, if any, the declaration might bring, with efforts to enact gun control stalled at the federal level, where many conservative politicians resolutely oppose any efforts to impose greater limitations on access to firearms. .
Many Republican-led states have taken steps to further ease existing restrictions. The National Rifle Association (NRA), a powerful political group that has been fighting to further loosen limits on access to firearms, called the statement an “extension of the Biden administration’s war on law-abiding gun owners.” .
Murthy said the impact of gun violence extends beyond the roughly 50,000 people killed in the U.S. each year, with lingering effects for those who witness or survive shootings or deal with injuries or the loss of loved ones.
“America should be a place where we can all go to school, to work, to the grocery store, to our place of worship, without having to worry about whether it will put our lives at risk,” he told the Associated Press, calling for measures such as increased background checks, the restriction of weapons in public spaces and the ban on high-powered automatic shotguns.
The report notes that gun violence became the leading cause of death among U.S. children and youth in 2020, and that gun-related deaths, which include homicides and accidental deaths as well as suicides, increased.
Such rates of gun violence make the U.S. an aberration among comparatively wealthy countries: The statement notes that the country’s gun death rate for young people is 11 times that of France, 36 times that of Germany, and 121 times that of the United States. Japan, where access to weapons is highly regulated.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
