A US Senate panel has propelled President Barack Obama's nominee Vivek
Murthy one step closer to becoming the nation's youngest ever
surgeon-general, even as America's powerful gun lobby threatened to
block the appointment because of the Indian-American's "activist" stand
on gun control.
The Senate Health Committee agreed on Thursday to move forward in the confirmation process with a roll-call vote in the full Senate next Tuesday, ignoring protests by the National Rifle Association over Murthy's belief that gun violence presents a major public health threat.
"Dr Murthy's record of political activism in support of radical gun control measures raises significant concerns about his ability to objectively examine issues pertinent to America's 100 million firearm owners and the likelihood that he would use the office of the Surgeon General to further his preexisting campaign against gun ownership," the NRA said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, seeking to torpedo the Indian-American's nomination.
"Given Dr Murthy's lengthy history of hostility towards the right to keep and bear arms, along with his calls for the full weight of the federal government's health apparatus to be used to target lawful gun ownership, there is little reason to believe that he would not work to further a gun control agenda if confirmed as Surgeon General. Simply put, the confirmation of Dr Murthy is a prescription for disaster for America's gun owners," the letter said. Murthy, who is only 37, was examined closely about his stand on gun control during his confirmation hearing. He trod carefully on the hot-button, hair-trigger, issue in a country that has argued itself hoarse on the right to bear arms enshrined in the Second Amendment.
"I do not intend to use the Surgeon General's Office as a bully pulpit for gun control," said Murthy in response to a question by Republican Senator Lamar Alexander. "That is not going to be my priority... My concerns with regards to issues like gun violence have to do with my experience as a physician, seeing patients in emergency rooms who have come in with acute injuries; but also seeing many patients over the years who are dealing with spinal cord injuries, post traumatic stress disorder, and other chronic complications from gun violence."
But that did not satisfy Alexander's colleague and putative Presidential candidate Senator Rand Paul, who is also a physician, and who said he has "serious concerns about Dr Murthy's ability to impartially serve as 'the Nation's Doctor."'
"In his efforts to curtail Second Amendment rights, Dr Murthy has continually referred to guns as a public health issue on par with heart disease and has diminished the role of mental health in gun violence," Paul said in a letter to Senator Reid, adding, "He has disqualified himself from being surgeon general because of his intent to use that position to launch an attack on Americans' right to own a firearm under the guise of a public health and safety campaign."
Senator Paul has indicated he will use procedural manoevres to put a hold on Murthy's nomination. But Democrats say they have enough votes to overcome the block. In confirmed, Murthy will become the highest ranking Indian-American official in the U.S administration, not to speak of the youngest surgeon-general in 150-plus years the office has been in existence.
America's pro-gun lobby remains powerful and vocal despite the raft of armed violence, including school and college shootings, in the country in recent years. The gun lobby has many ardent celebrity spokespeople, including conservative entertainers such as Ted Nugent, who showed his true colors recently by describing President Obama as a "sub-human mongrel." Nugent once argued that "Where you have the most armed citizens in America, you have the lowest violent crime rate. Where you have the worst gun control, you have the highest crime rate," in what was read by some gun control advocates as an invitation to a state controlled by private militias.
The anti-gun lobby, mainly liberals on the East Coast and West Coast have their own take on the issue. "One failed attempt at a shoe bomb and we all take off our shoes at the airport. Thirty-one school shootings since Columbine and no change in our regulation of guns," was the ironic take on the Daily Show on one of the most serious subjects in the United States.
Read more: PIO surgeon gen pick in crosshairs of US gun lobby - The Times of India
The Senate Health Committee agreed on Thursday to move forward in the confirmation process with a roll-call vote in the full Senate next Tuesday, ignoring protests by the National Rifle Association over Murthy's belief that gun violence presents a major public health threat.
"Dr Murthy's record of political activism in support of radical gun control measures raises significant concerns about his ability to objectively examine issues pertinent to America's 100 million firearm owners and the likelihood that he would use the office of the Surgeon General to further his preexisting campaign against gun ownership," the NRA said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, seeking to torpedo the Indian-American's nomination.
"Given Dr Murthy's lengthy history of hostility towards the right to keep and bear arms, along with his calls for the full weight of the federal government's health apparatus to be used to target lawful gun ownership, there is little reason to believe that he would not work to further a gun control agenda if confirmed as Surgeon General. Simply put, the confirmation of Dr Murthy is a prescription for disaster for America's gun owners," the letter said. Murthy, who is only 37, was examined closely about his stand on gun control during his confirmation hearing. He trod carefully on the hot-button, hair-trigger, issue in a country that has argued itself hoarse on the right to bear arms enshrined in the Second Amendment.
"I do not intend to use the Surgeon General's Office as a bully pulpit for gun control," said Murthy in response to a question by Republican Senator Lamar Alexander. "That is not going to be my priority... My concerns with regards to issues like gun violence have to do with my experience as a physician, seeing patients in emergency rooms who have come in with acute injuries; but also seeing many patients over the years who are dealing with spinal cord injuries, post traumatic stress disorder, and other chronic complications from gun violence."
But that did not satisfy Alexander's colleague and putative Presidential candidate Senator Rand Paul, who is also a physician, and who said he has "serious concerns about Dr Murthy's ability to impartially serve as 'the Nation's Doctor."'
"In his efforts to curtail Second Amendment rights, Dr Murthy has continually referred to guns as a public health issue on par with heart disease and has diminished the role of mental health in gun violence," Paul said in a letter to Senator Reid, adding, "He has disqualified himself from being surgeon general because of his intent to use that position to launch an attack on Americans' right to own a firearm under the guise of a public health and safety campaign."
Senator Paul has indicated he will use procedural manoevres to put a hold on Murthy's nomination. But Democrats say they have enough votes to overcome the block. In confirmed, Murthy will become the highest ranking Indian-American official in the U.S administration, not to speak of the youngest surgeon-general in 150-plus years the office has been in existence.
America's pro-gun lobby remains powerful and vocal despite the raft of armed violence, including school and college shootings, in the country in recent years. The gun lobby has many ardent celebrity spokespeople, including conservative entertainers such as Ted Nugent, who showed his true colors recently by describing President Obama as a "sub-human mongrel." Nugent once argued that "Where you have the most armed citizens in America, you have the lowest violent crime rate. Where you have the worst gun control, you have the highest crime rate," in what was read by some gun control advocates as an invitation to a state controlled by private militias.
The anti-gun lobby, mainly liberals on the East Coast and West Coast have their own take on the issue. "One failed attempt at a shoe bomb and we all take off our shoes at the airport. Thirty-one school shootings since Columbine and no change in our regulation of guns," was the ironic take on the Daily Show on one of the most serious subjects in the United States.
Read more: PIO surgeon gen pick in crosshairs of US gun lobby - The Times of India
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