Gun violence in the United States is an urgent public health crisis that demands the “collective commitment of the nation” to stop it, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy says in a new advisory released Tuesday. A surgeon general’s advisory is typically used to draw attention to significant public health challenges, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. Tuesday’s advisory spells out how devastating gun violence has been in the United States and details how public health strategies can help. A KFF poll in April last year also showed that gun violence is all too common in the lives of Americans. A public health approach can turn the tide on gun violence, the advisory says, just as it did for tobacco-related disease and motor vehicle crashes.

Source: CNN June 25, 2024 16:56 UTC