Dr. Anthony Fauci ventured outside his typical comfort zone Sunday, calling gun violence in America a “public health issue.”
From the Daily Wire:
Dr. Anthony Fauci opined Sunday about the surge of gun violence in the United States and described the spike in shootings as an issue of public health.
Speaking to CNN host Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” Fauci was asked to comment on whether he believes gun violence is a public health emergency.
“Myself, as a public health person, I think you can’t run away from that,” Fauci replied. “When you see people getting killed, I mean, in this last month it’s just been horrifying what’s happened. How can you say that’s not a public health issue?”
Despite having a packed media schedule for much of the last year, Fauci has typically kept his focus on the coronavirus pandemic. But the nation’s top infectious disease expert has often been a controversial figure, clashing with Republicans such as Sen. Rand Paul and former President Donald Trump for his at time pessimistic outlook on the virus and his support of lockdowns.
Democrats have made a renewed push for gun control in recent weeks, with President Biden announcing executive orders he feels will target gun violence.
“There’s no reason someone needs a weapon of war with 100 rounds, 100 bullets, that can be fired from that weapon,” Biden said while announcing the executive orders. “Nobody needs that.”
But Biden also made clear he has no intention of stopping with the executive orders, instead pressing Congress to act and pass even stricter restrictions to gun ownership.
The Democratic controlled House of Representatives has followed Biden’s advice, passing a sweeping gun-control bill. But that bill now sits in the Senate, where it faced a more uncertain future in an evenly divided chamber with the legislative filibuster remaining intact.
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