US surgeon general declares America's gun violence epidemic a health crisis

The US surgeon general has declared gun violence a public health crisis, driven by the fast-growing number of injuries and deaths involving firearms in the world's most heavily armed society.

The advisory issued by Dr Vivek Murthy, America's top doctor, came as the US grappled with another summer weekend marked by mass shootings that left dozens of people dead or wounded.

"People want to be able to walk through their neighbourhoods and be safe," Murthy told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

"America should be a place where all of us can go to school, go to work, go to the supermarket, go to our house of worship, without having to worry that that's going to put our life at risk."

To drive down gun deaths, Murthy calls on the US to ban automatic rifles, introduce universal background checks for purchasing guns, regulate the industry, pass laws that would restrict their use in public spaces and penalise people who fail to safely store their weapons.

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.

Pressure against Murthy

Murthy's advisory, however, promises to be controversial with the gun lobby and will certainly incense Republican lawmakers, most of whom opposed his confirmation — twice — to the job over his statements on gun violence.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) promptly rebuked Murthy's advisory.

"This is an extension of the Biden Administration's war on law-abiding gun owners," Randy Kozuch, the organisation's president, said in a statement on X.

It was the NRA and Republicans who enjoy the powerful gun lobby's support that almost derailed Murthy's confirmation as surgeon general a decade ago. Murthy became quieter on the issue of gun violence after his past statements almost cost him the job.

Then-president Donald Trump dismissed Murthy in 2017, but President Joe Biden nominated him again for the position in 2021.

But he also has faced mounting pressure from some doctors and Democratic advocacy groups to speak out more. A group of four former surgeon generals asked the Biden administration to produce a report on the problem in 2022.

"It is now time for us to take this issue out of the realm of politics and put it in the realm of public health, the way we did with smoking more than a half-century ago," Murthy told the AP.

No.1 child killer

Murthy has been encouraged by some developments in Congress, including the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022, which enhanced background checks for firearms.

A White House report obtained by The Associated Press says that more thorough background checks have stopped roughly 800 sales of firearms to people under age 21.

Firearms remain the No.1 killer of children in the US, according to research from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

According to the latest numbers on Gun Violence Archive, the number of mass shootings in 2024 so far stands at 249 in the US.

The current statistics show 8,125 homicides, 110 children and 566 teens tragically killed.

And there have been 12 mass killings by firearms in 2024, according to data tracked by the AP news agency.

A mass killing is defined as an attack in which four or more people have died, not including the perpetrator, within 24 hours.

The conservative-majority US Supreme Court expanded gun rights in 2022, changing the way courts are supposed to evaluate restrictions on firearms.

It recently overturned a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, the rapid-fire gun accessories used in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.