(Washington) Gun violence is a “public health crisis” that threatens the “health and well-being” of the United States, the US surgeon general said Tuesday, recommending a range of actions to fight against this scourge.
“Today, for the first time in the history of this office, I am declaring a gun violence alert,” Vivek Murthy said in a video.
He particularly emphasizes that since 2020, firearms have been the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the United States, ahead of road accidents and overdoses.
Appointed by the president, this senior federal official is responsible for prevention on public health issues. Its regulatory powers are very limited.
But he points to figures that underline the unique case of the United States in the developed world.
Nearly one in five Americans has a family member who has died from a firearm, including suicide. More than half of the population has experienced, directly or through a loved one, an event involving the use of a firearm.
In 2022, 48,204 people died from firearms, including suicides.
“The collective cost of gun violence on our nation’s mental health is immense. The trauma and grief that so many Americans experience from gun-related injuries and deaths have already had serious consequences for the well-being of our country,” writes Vivek Murthy on the X Network.
“It is a public health crisis that can be prevented”, but “our failure to confront it is a moral crisis”, he says, calling for action with “clarity, courage and urgency”.
Its recommendations include more rigorous gun storage, widespread background checks on buyers, gun confiscation for dangerous people like abusive spouses, and a ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.
Such measures, long supported by Democratic President Joe Biden, require political agreement in Congress for implementation at the federal level.
Republicans largely oppose these measures under the protection of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects the right to carry a firearm.
The country has more individual weapons than inhabitants: one in three adults owns at least one weapon and almost one in two adults lives in a home where there is a weapon.