Tackling US gun violence as a public health crisis. Will it help?

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has declared gun violence a public health crisis, aiming to curb the US' leading role in shooting deaths. In a groundbreaking report, Dr. Murthy noted that a majority of Americans or their family members have experienced gun violence. He believes a public health approach could help, similar to changes in seatbelt safety and smoking warnings. Dr. Murthy hopes to remove politics from the issue and focus on the impacts and data. 'I want people to understand the full impact gun violence is having on the United States,' Dr. Murthy told the BBC. 'For every one life lost, there are two people who are shot and injured and are experiencing mental and physical health consequences, family members who grieve the loss of a loved one, witnesses to these incidents, and millions who read about and hear about gun violence every day in the papers. ' Gun safety advocates are cautiously optimistic about Dr. Murthy's advisory, seeing it as a step toward changing public perception. 'This is not a political issue,' Dr. Chethan Sathya, director of Northwell Health's Center for Gun Violence Prevention, told the BBC. 'This is about safer communities, firearm safety, and violence prevention.

While experts acknowledge the advisory is largely symbolic and does not force policy change, it is viewed as a step forward in reducing deaths and changing the discussion around guns in the country. Dr. Sathya describes it as 'legitimizing' a discussion about using research and public health resources to tackle the issue with public health solutions. 'This isn't just an issue of 'we need background checks' and we're done,' he said. 'We need a lot of different nuanced policy and strategy to be able to tackle this in a way that makes sense for all Americans. ' The report highlights that since 2020, guns have been the leading cause of death for children and younger Americans. The death rate from guns is 11. 4 times higher in the US compared to 28 other high-income countries, making it a uniquely American problem. 'We don't have to continue down this path, and we don't have to subject our children to the ongoing horror of firearm violence in America,' Dr. Murthy said. 'It will take the collective commitment of our nation to turn the tide.

Dr. Jeffrey Swanson, a public health scholar, says this is about asking the right questions and using informed research to develop evidence-based policies. 'We have to actually make some headway in terms of changing the culture around guns and, if you look at public health history, there's a precedent for that,' he said, citing previous public health efforts on seatbelt safety and cigarettes. 'Now people get in their car and, no matter what their politics are, put their seatbelts on. They don't do it because there's a law. They do it because it just feels natural, because our culture has changed. ' Despite the endorsement of Dr. Murthy's report by ten of the nation's leading national medical associations, the pushback from conservatives was swift. The National Rifle Association, the nation's most prominent gun lobby, called it 'an extension of the Biden Administration's war on law-abiding gun owners.