Washington:

In a new advisory released on Tuesday, US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy said that gun violence in the country is an urgent public health crisis that demands the “collective commitment of the nation” to put an end to it, reported CNN.

This is the first Office of the Surgeon General publication that specifically addresses gun violence and its “deep consequences” for victims, communities, and mental health.

The US Department of Health and Human Services states that a surgeon general’s advice is usually used to highlight important public health issues.

The advise released on Tuesday outlines the terrible effects of gun violence in the US and provides information on how public health initiatives can be helpful.

Provisional data indicates that over 48,000 US citizens lost their lives as a result of firearm-related injuries in 2022 alone. Homicides, suicides, and accidental deaths were all included in that total. The recommendation states that the number of firearm-related deaths in the US has been increasing and will peak in 2021 at three decades, reported CNN.

According to the advice, since then, there has been a decline in gun-related killings but the number of gun-related suicides has remained relatively constant. The caution states that although mass shootings are still uncommon–they account for only 1 per cent of gun fatalities–the frequency of these events has been increasing.

The Surgeon General’s advisory underlined, how people of colour are “disproportionately impacted” by gun violence, reported CNN.

The recommendation states that firearm violence can have a negative impact on mental health in addition to the physical issues it can cause.

According to the advisory, youngsters are especially prone to fearing gun violence, with many of them believing that their school will be the scene of such carnage. It states that in order to understand how to lower and prevent firearm violence in the US, additional funding for guns research is required. Investments should be made with a focus on improving data gathering and preventative tactics, CNN reported.

The guideline calls on healthcare providers and communities to take proactive measures to support populations that are most at risk of this type of violence.

“There are no federal standards or regulations regarding the safety of firearms produced in the US,” the advisory says.

In the past few weeks, the US has witnessed several shooting incidents, with at least 21 other mass shootings recorded by the Gun Violence Archive since last Friday. According to CNN report, the Gun Violence Archive regards mass shootings as ones in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A 43-year-old man in the United States has been arrested for allegedly pointing a gun at a 6-year-old boy over Halloween candy. According to NBC News, the incident occurred on Saturday in New York. Michael Yifan Wen was arrested and charged with menacing and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, Nassau County police said in a statement. 

The incident began when a mother drove her daughter, two sons, and a nephew to a nearby residence to drop off a goody bag. Her 10-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son rang the doorbell and dropped off a Halloween goody bag on the porch for the girl’s friend. However, when the children returned to the car, the girl told her mother the address may have been incorrect, so they drove back, and the boy went to the porch to get the bag full of candy.

This is when the man opened the door and pointed a handgun at the boy’s head, the outlet reported. The Nassau County Police Department were immediately notified of the incident and the 43-year-old suspect was arrested. 

Mr Wen’s attorney, however, said that his client is presumed innocent. “These are just allegations,” the lawyer said. He also asked the public to refrain from jumping to conclusions “before the facts come out”. 

According to ABC News, the investigation into the incident is currently ongoing. 

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Meanwhile, this comes amid a time when US is reeling under the uncontrolled and widespread use of guns across the country which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians over the years. The country has recorded over 500 mass shootings this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a non-governmental organization that defines a mass shooting as four or more people wounded or killed.

Notably, the recent shooting in Maine left 18 dead. This attack was the deadliest mass shooting in 2023 so far, according to the GVA’s data.

The Tampa Police Department and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office investigates a fatal shooting in the Ybor City neighborhood on October 29, 2023 in Tampa, Florida.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Police in Tampa, Florida, have arrested a man suspected of killing two people in gun violence that sparked chaos on Sunday around a clutch of bars and clubs as people celebrated Halloween, authorities said.

Sixteen people were injured, all but one by gunshot, police said.

Tyrell Stephen Phillips, 22, was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting deaths of a 14-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man following a pre-dawn clash between two groups in the historic Tampa neighborhood of Ybor City, police said.

The altercation unfolded as hundreds of people filled the streets as night spots closed after an evening of Halloween-themed celebrations, then scrambled for cover at the sound of gunfire.

Videos on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, showed pandemonium as people ran through the dark while at least a dozen shots rang out. In some of the footage, police officers were seen hurrying to help people in costumes bleeding on sidewalks.

Two people were killed and 16 were taken to hospital with injuries, 15 of them with gunshot wounds, police said in a statement.

Many of the injured, who ranged in age from 18 to 27, were treated and released, but five remained in hospital, police said.

Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said witness tips to investigators played key role in helping police identify and arrest the suspected gunman. It was not clear if any other suspects were being sought.

Washington:

US Vice President Kamala Harris took on a new role Friday fighting gun violence, a job likely to give her more visibility ahead of the 2024 election. The 58-year-old Democrat will head up the new White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which will provide coordination on the issue but largely lacks any kind of enforceable power to tackle the scourge in a country that has more firearms than people. 

“We know true freedom is not possible if people are not safe,” Harris said in a statement announcing the new office. 

“We do not have a moment to spare nor a life to spare” while the United States is “torn apart” by gun violence, she said at the White House on Friday. 

“After every mass shooting, we hear a simple message, the same message all over the country,” she added, saying Americans are begging for their leaders to “‘do something, please do something.'”

Despite the new push, the White House does not have unilateral power to meaningfully limit gun use in the United States, such as by banning assault weapons. 

Any substantial moves would have to come from Congress, where fiercely anti-gun regulation Republicans control the House of Representatives. 

Biden has therefore tried to work around legislative requirements and imposed certain regulatory and administrative restrictions, which have only a limited scope. 

The new role adds a significant job to Harris’s portfolio just a little over a year ahead of the 2024 race, in which she and the 80-year-old president are facing re-election. 

The vice president has already been tasked with handling other politically sensitive issues such as immigration. 

Tackling gun violence gives the former California prosecutor the chance to work on a visible issue that often garners more widespread consensus from the American public. 

According to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-governmental organization, 44,374 people were killed by guns across the United States last year.

Gun deaths have slowed slightly this year, at 28,793 for the first eight months, according to the archive.

Harris — the first woman to become vice president as well as the first Black person and person of South Asian descent to hold the job — also recently embarked on the so-called Fight for Our Freedoms College Tour, in which she visited several US universities. 

She was generally received with enthusiasm, in contrast to her often-flagging favorability poll numbers. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)