Desantis Says That Florida Will Not Comply With the Us Surgeon General’s Advice About Gun Violence
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said Wednesday that gun violence is a public health disaster. On Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said that Florida “will not comply” with this.
Murthy, the best doctor in the country, gave the warning on Tuesday, as the U.S. deals with a rise in gun-related deaths and injuries. He called for a broad method like what was used to deal with deaths from smoking and car accidents.
In a video announcing the advisory, Murthy said that 54% of people in the U.S. say they or a family member have been touched by a gun. He said that gun crime is the main reason kids and teens die in the United States.
Two people were killed in a shooting on New Tampa Boulevard on Friday, the day before Murthy’s warning. A lot of people from New Tampa gathered at a community center to voice their worries about the recent string of shootings in the area.
Murthy suggested many things, such as background checks for everyone, a ban on assault weapons, more government funding for research into preventing gun violence, and stricter rules for the gun industry.
The surgeon general can’t make those suggestions happen. For the ideas to be used across the whole country, Congress would have to pass laws.
Some state legislatures might look at Murthy’s ideas, but DeSantis said Wednesday that Florida “will not comply.”
The governor wrote on X that Murthy “is trying to violate the Second Amendment through the ‘public health’ bureaucracy.”
He talked about how the federal government dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic and said, “Unelected bureaucrats used ‘public health’ as an excuse to take away citizens’ rights.”
When asked to explain DeSantis’ side of the story, Jeremy Redfern, the governor’s office press secretary, said, “I think the governor’s job speaks for itself.”
The National Rifle Association also did not agree with the advice.
The group’s head, Randy Kozuch, said in a statement on X, “This is an extension of the Biden administration’s war on law-abiding gun owners.”
“Things bad happen in America because of bad people,” he said. “The main reason for that is that President (Joe) Biden and many of his allies don’t want to prosecute and punish criminals.”
Murthy said that gun crime affects more than just the people who have been directly affected by it. He said that people who see the violence, live in areas where it happens a lot, or read about it in the news are hurt in “wider ripples.”
Murthy said, “Weak gun laws are a public health crisis.” “It is a moral crisis that we haven’t done anything about it.”