Gun violence is a “public health crisis”declared Tuesday June 25 the public health administrator (Surgeon General) of the United States, which, for the first time, published a comprehensive report making this subject a health priority and recommending a series of actions to fight against this scourge.
“Today, for the first time in the history of this office, I am declaring an alert on gun violence”, said Vivek Murthy, in a video accompanying the report. He emphasizes in particular that since 2020, firearms have been the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the United States, ahead of road accidents.
Appointed by the president, this senior federal official is responsible for prevention on public health issues, even if his concrete powers are very limited.
Such a report should above all make it possible to take the subject out of the purely political domain, and place it on the level of public health, Vivek Murthy said on CNN. He argued that a report published by one of his predecessors on the harmful consequences of tobacco had made it possible to mobilize different actors and triggered a series of measures.
One in five Americans has a family member killed by firearms
In 2022, there were 48,204 gun-related deaths in the country, which includes suicides. Nearly one in five Americans has a family member who has died from firearms, including suicide. More than half of the population has experienced, directly or through their loved ones, an event involving the use of a weapon. Gun violence also disproportionately affects black people, the report highlights.
“The collective cost of gun violence on our nation’s mental health is immense”wrote Vivek Murthy on X. “The trauma and grief that so many Americans experience from gun-related injuries and deaths has already taken a serious toll. » “This is a preventable public health crisis” more “our failure to confront it is a moral crisis”he launched, calling for action with “clarity, courage and urgency”.
Its recommendations include stricter gun storage, widespread background checks for buyers, gun confiscation for dangerous people like abusive spouses, and banning assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.
Read the article: Article reserved for our subscribers “It is because Americans culturally accept violence that the Second Amendment is used to cover it up”
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Republicans largely oppose these measures
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 Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects the right to carry a firearm.
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“To my Republican colleagues: come to the table and work with us to pass legislation that helps save lives”reacted influential Democratic Senator Dick Durbin on Tuesday.
The influential gun lobby National Rifle Association of America (NRA), for its part, quickly denounced the report as “an extension of the Biden administration’s war on law-abiding gun owners”. “America has a crime problem caused by criminals”added the organization’s executive director, Randy Kozuch.
The country has more individual weapons than inhabitants: one adult in three owns at least one weapon and nearly one adult in two lives in a home where there is a weapon.
Read the decryption | Why the right to arm remains ingrained in American culture and politics
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