In compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order protecting Second Amendment rights, the White House has removed an advisory identifying gun violence as a public health issue.
The government webpage detailing the consequences of America’s easy access to guns is no longer live. It came down some time between March 5 and March 15, internet archives show, removing data about firearms being the leading cause of death for children and adolescents, among other disturbing statistics.
“Illegal violence of any sort is a crime issue, and as he again made clear during his recent speech at the Department of Justice, President Trump is committed to Making America Safe Again by empowering law enforcement to uphold law and order,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told HuffPost when asked about the page’s removal.
The White House confirmed the advisory, which went into effect last summer, was removed as part of last month’s executive order demanding a review of all federal firearms regulations to determine whether there are any “ongoing infringements” of constitutional gun rights. The order specifically takes aim at gun safety legislation enacted under President Joe Biden.
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The advisory was put into effect last June by then-U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who said at the time that driving down gun deaths would require a ban on automatic rifles and the introduction of universal background checks, laws restricting guns’ use in public spaces and penalties for people who fail to safely store their firearms.
“People want to be able to walk through their neighborhoods and be safe,” Murthy told The Associated Press when he released the advisory. “America should be a place where all of us can go to school, go to work, go to the supermarket, go to our house of worship, without having to worry that that’s going to put our life at risk.”
His since-removed advisory noted that for people between ages 1 and 19, firearms now outpace motor vehicles as the leading cause of death. Gun deaths for that age group have been steadily on the rise for the past decade, far surpassing deaths from poisoning, cancer, suffocation, congenital anomalies, drowning and cardiovascular disease.
It also referenced a survey finding that more than half of Americans report they or a family member have experienced a firearm-related incident. Trump is part of that group, too, having been shot at a campaign rally in July.
Trump’s demands to overhaul gun safety regulations come in spite of the fact that 61% of Americans say it is too easy to legally obtain a gun in the U.S., according to Pew Research. A similar percentage of Americans favor stricter gun laws, with broad support across party lines for laws preventing those with mental illnesses from purchasing guns and increasing the minimum age for buying guns to 21 years old.
Another survey from Fox News, the conservative broadcaster favored by Trump, found that a whopping 87% of Americans support universal background checks ― one of the policies endorsed by Murthy.