The Trump administration removed a Biden-era surgeon general’s advisory on the public health effects of gun violence and a similar webpage from the Health and Human Services (HHS) website.
Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a public health advisory on “firearm violence,” declaring it to be a “public health crisis” in 2024, though a link to the report was recently scrubbed from the HHS site. The advisory was part of the Biden administration’s broader efforts to usher in additional gun control measures at the federal level.
An HHS spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the agency and the Surgeon General are “complying with President Trump’s executive order on Protecting Second Amendment Rights” by removing the webpage.
A related webpage on gun violence also now shows a “Page Not Found” notice. The 40-page advisory, still accessible via internet archives, outlined the physical and mental health impacts of gun violence and recommended a “public health approach” to combating gun violence.
Murthy argued that since the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) “defined a public health approach to violence prevention” successful “life-saving action[s]” included lower rates in cigarette usage and fewer automobile deaths. The advisory stated that “during an emergency,” the necessary approach to a public health crisis is “continuous and iterative.”
President Donald Trump’s executive order states that “The Second Amendment is an indispensable safeguard of security and liberty,” and outlines a “plan of action” that includes examining “all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements, and other actions of executive departments and agencies (agencies) to assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens.”
Former President Joe Biden called for increased firearm regulations throughout his time in office, advocating for not only a ban on so-called “assault weapons and high-capacity magazines” but also the repeal of civil liability protections for gun makers, which he floated during his first address to Congress in 2022.
“I signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to keep guns out of dangerous hands, and have taken more executive action than any President in history to keep communities safe,” Biden said in a 2023 statement when he established the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, to be overseen by former Vice President Kamala Harris. “But as I’ve said before – while these are important steps, they are just the first steps toward what is needed.”
Critics of Biden’s gun policies have often pointed to a lack of correlation between legal gun ownership and gun violence.
In his Feb. 7 executive order, Trump ordered the review of all federal “orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements, and other actions of executive departments and agencies,” including all “presidential actions” during Biden’s term, to identify “ongoing infringements” of Americans’ Second Amendment rights.
Featured Image Credit: NIH History Office from Bethesda
