Newly-sworn-in Surgeon General Vivek Murthy defended his past comments on gun control–comments which stalled his confirmation for over a year.
Gun rights advocates had fiercely battled his 2013 nomination because of a 2012 tweet in which he called guns “a health care issue”:
Tired of politicians playing politics w/ guns, putting lives at risk b/c they’re scared of NRA. Guns are a health care issue. #debatehealth
— Vivek Murthy (@vivek_murthy) October 17, 2012
“America’s next surgeon general should not be a political operative whose professional inexperience has been a source of bipartisan concern,” the NRA said. Despite attempts to stall his confirmation, the Senate finally confirmed Murthy by a narrow vote in December.
In an interview with NPR this weekend Murthy kept his replies vague, saying “violence of all kinds is a public health issue.”
When pressed as to whether he was actually calling for gun control laws, Murthy replied, “Well, what I’m calling for is for more common sense.”
“We may see various issues around violence as highly politicized because of how they’re covered or how they’re spoken about in public settings. These problems that we face are not problems that one party or one sector can solve on their own.”
Read the transcript of his comments below:
MURTHY: Here’s what I would say – and here’s what I meant when I wrote that tweet – violence of all kinds is a public health issue. When you have large numbers of people dying from preventable causes, that’s a health care issue. That’s a public health issue. That’s what I said. That’s, in fact, what C. Everett Koop said when he was Surgeon General, and that’s what the leading medical and nursing organizations have said for many years. I want to find a way that we can reduce violence in America. And I think you wouldn’t be hard-pressed to find parents or families of victims or health care practitioners who would disagree.
SIMON: Do I properly note any significance to the fact that you don’t seem to be calling for more gun control laws?
MURTHY: Well, what I’m calling for is for more common sense. We may see various issues around violence as highly politicized because of how they’re covered or how they’re spoken about in public settings. These problems that we face are not problems that one party or one sector can solve on their own. But it’s going to take real partnership and working together across the community that will help us address the great health care challenges that our country is facing.
(h/t Daily Caller)
