US Surgeon General declares gun deaths a public health emergency

America’s Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has declared that gun violence is a public health crisis. This is aimed at curbing the nation’s high number of shooting deaths. The United States leads the world in deaths caused by guns.

In a first-of-its-kind report, the top doctor in the country highlighted that a majority of Americans or their family members have been affected by gun violence, as he urged action.

Adopting a public health approach, he argued, could help. He cited changes to seatbelt safety in vehicles as well as warnings regarding the health impacts of smoking cigarettes. The goal is to remove politics from the issue which has divided lawmakers.

“I want people to understand the full impact gun violence is having on the United States,” Dr Murthy told the BBC in an interview on Tuesday. “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.”

Advocates for gun safety are cautiously optimistic after the advisory, seeing it as a step in the right direction and towards changing how the public will approach the issue in the future.

“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.”