U.S. Surgeon General Declares Gun Violence an 'Urgent Public Health Crisis,' Citing Alarming Statistics

Dr. Vivek Murthy issued the advisory on Tuesday, June 25, noting that gun violence is now the leading cause of death among children and adolescents

The U.S. surgeon general has declared gun violence in the country to be an "urgent public health crisis," citing alarming statistics in an advisory issued Tuesday, June 25.

Dr. Vivek Murthy said the advisory was "the first publication from the Office of the Surgeon General dedicated to firearm violence and its consequences for the health and well-being of the American public," according to a press release shared with PEOPLE.

Over the last decade, the number of people who have died from gun-related injuries, including suicides, homicides, and accidental deaths, has been rising, and firearm violence is now the leading cause of death among children and adolescents, the release states.

In the 35-page advisory, Murthy details alarming statistics, including a total of 48,204 people who died from gun-related injuries in 2022. This figure represents 8,000 more than the lives lost in 2019 and 16,000 than the lives lost in 2010.

The advisory also details a nationally representative survey which found that the majority of U.S. adults or their family members (54%) have experienced a firearm-related incident. Another survey found that half (51%) of 14 to 17-year-olds in the U.S. worry about school shootings and nearly six in 10 report that they “'have recently thought about what would happen if a person with a gun entered' their school or a school nearby."

Also, nearly 6 in 10 U.S. adults say that they worry “sometimes,” “almost every day,” or “every day,” about a loved one being a victim of firearm violence, according to the advisory.

According to data published by Gun Violence Archive, the U.S. experienced more than 600 mass shooting incidents each year between 2020 and 2023, compared to an average of less than 400 annual mass shooting incidents between 2015 and 2018, per the advisory.

In 2022, the majority of all homicides (79% [19,651 of 24,849]) and suicides (55% [27,032 of 49,476]) in the U.S. were carried out with a firearm, the advisory states. Additionally, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) found that, in 2015, the overall firearm-related death rate was 11.4 times higher in the U.S. compared to 28 other high-income nations.

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The advisory also noted that firearm homicides and suicides are not equally distributed and disparities have been longstanding across population groups in the country. In 2022, Black people suffered the highest age-adjusted firearm homicide rates across all ages (27.0 per 100,000) as compared to 6.2 per 100,000 (all races/ ethnicities).

“Firearm violence is an urgent public health crisis that has led to loss of life, unimaginable pain, and profound grief for far too many Americans,” Murthy said.

He added, "We don’t have to continue down this path, and we don’t have to subject our children to the ongoing horror of firearm violence in America. All Americans deserve to live their lives free from firearm violence, as well as from the fear and devastation that it brings. It will take the collective commitment of our nation to turn the tide on firearm violence."

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Read the original article on People.