A few years back, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy used his position to assist the Biden administration’s censorship efforts during the Covid pandemic, contending that the government had a responsibility to root out “misinformation.”
Now, Murthy wants to do the same thing to the Second Amendment, declaring gun violence a “public health crisis.” The surgeon general wants to take gun ownership “out of the realm of politics and put it into the realm of public health.” Fortunately, the Constitution already has purview over the individual’s right to own a firearm.
But setting aside the fact that Murthy’s goal is unconstitutional, the premise of his report is also highly misleading. For starters, like most anti-gun activists, Murthy dishonestly conflates suicides (a mental health issue) with homicides (a criminality issue) to make sweeping contentions about firearms. Murthy even throws in incidents where guns are used in self-defense as a “harm” plaguing the nation’s health.
But that’s just the beginning.
What is especially devastating is how this has affected our kids. Firearm violence is now the leading cause of death among children and adolescents—more than car accidents or drug overdoses. 3/10
— Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) June 25, 2024
Virtually every media outlet and left-wing politician in the country repeats this fake statistic, which is also the foundation of Murthy’s report.
The problem is that every “study” used to bolster his claim counts 18- and 19-year-olds as adolescents — including criminals — and sometimes up to 25-year-olds. Americans under 18 can’t purchase guns legally. Once
