On Tuesday, the surgeon general declared gun violence a public health emergency. To say there are issues with the announcement is putting it mildly.

None of it is surprising. I noted back in 2020 that Murthy believed violence was a healthcare crisis. The only shocking thing about Tuesday's announcement is that it took four years to happen.

But that doesn't excuse it.

Over at the Washington Examiner, Zachary Faria is one of those who isn't a fan of the announcement. He wrote a piece titled, "‘Public health’ authoritarianism comes to the gun control debate" and yeah, he breaks down a couple of concerns.

Starting with a direct quote from Murty and then offering this description of what was meant:

Translation: We want to take this matter out of the hands of voters and that pesky political process and put it in the hands of public health bureaucrats who work for Biden.

...

That is what this will be, lest you be swayed by the appeal to public health “expertise” that will no doubt flood this topic. Murthy is already speaking with the same tone of moral shaming as your run-of-the-mill gun control activist, saying in an advisory that “our failure to address” gun violence as a public health crisis “is a moral crisis.” As for the sacred word of Murthy on public health concerns, he was one of many health bureaucrats who pushed social distancing policies that were used to shut down schools and businesses, despite Dr. Anthony Fauci recently admitting that guidance had no scientific basis whatsoever.

Exactly.

The science around guns and gun control is, at best, dubious. Couple that with knowing that many researchers will censor themselves when their research finds things that would be unpopular, which could include any finding that aligns with a pro-gun belief, and you have a recipe to see troubling research be used to justify encroachments on our right to keep and bear arms.

This is what we like to call, in technical terms, "bad."

Fauci was able to make crap up and foist it on the American people without question due to a public health emergency. Now, they're going to set the stage to do it all over again, only this time, it'll be our guns that are the target.

Here's the kicker, though. There are things the healthcare establishment could do that would help reduce violent crime. Especially with regard to people who have been shot, since many of them seek revenge for the shooting and do so by shooting someone else. Curtail that and you short-circuit the cycle of violence then and there, saving an untold number of lives.

But that's not what Murthy is doing. His call was specific. He wants Congress to step all over our right to keep and bear arms, and then have us thank them for doing so.

None of this accounts for how self-defense works, though this tweet seems to suggest he sees it as a problem.

My Surgeon General’s Advisory on Firearm Violence outlines the devastating impact of firearm violence on Americans. Firearm violence is pervasive: a staggering 54% of adults report they or their families have experienced a firearm-related incident. https://t.co/bNS7xD9Bhp pic.twitter.com/MWfp65SoSK

— Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) June 25, 2024

At the end of the day, Murthy is just another anti-gunner who is trying to use his office to stop all over our right to keep and bear arms.