During his confirmation hearing in 2021, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy indicated to Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) that he was not interested declaring gun violence a health crisis in order to push for gun control.
However, Breitbart News reported that Murthy declared gun violence a “public health crisis” on June 25, 2024, and used the declaration to push a ban on certain firearms and call for the implementation of universal background checks.
Braun reacted to Murthy’s declaration and gun control push by posting a video of Murthy during his confirmation hearing:
Additionally, Braun called on senators to rally behind his Protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act, which is designed to prohibit administration officials from “declaring a public health emergency to impose gun control.”
Braun said, “Declaring a public health emergency does not give the Executive Branch the right to infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of Americans to defend themselves and their families, and Congress must make this 100% clear in law so the rights of law-abiding citizens can’t be destroyed through the bureaucratic loophole that is opened by exploiting a crisis.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.