For the record, we’re all pretty sick of talking about Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s “public health emergency” nonsense. However, when someone that highly placed tries to get involved in the anti-gun debate, especially that close to a presidential debate, well, we’re going to talk about it.
And throughout the nation, anti-gun lawmakers are brushing off their favorite bills in hopes that they can now cram this through and down our throats under the guise of it being what the surgeon general wants.
However, at least one governor is thoroughly unimpressed.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said his state will not comply with the Surgeon General’s newly issued public health advisory on gun violence, calling the move “unconstitutional” in a post on the social platform X on Wednesday.
“We will not comply,” DeSantis wrote. “Florida will always reject the Biden Administration’s unconstitutional power grabs.”
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared firearm violence a public health crisis on Tuesday, citing a consistent rise in firearm-related deaths.
“Firearm violence is a public health crisis,” Murthy said in his announcement. “Our failure to address it is a moral crisis.”
DeSantis indicated he would treat the new advisory with the same resistance he directed to pandemic-era measures during the spread of COVID-19.
“During COVID, unelected bureaucrats used ‘public health’ as a pretext to deprive citizens of their rights– and I signed legislation to protect Floridians from government overreach,” DeSantis wrote on X.
“Now, Biden’s Surgeon General is attempting to violate the Second Amendment through the ‘public health’ bureaucracy.”
The DeSantis team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
My guess is that they didn’t respond because they didn’t want to.
Regardless, DeSantis is looking at this and thinking about the COVID-19 response and, frankly, he’s right to do so. He’s right to call it out because, at the end of the day, that’s why Democrats figure people will comply.
People who are scared are capable of accepting all manner of encroachment in our lives. A lot of people I know who are normally all about personal liberty were suddenly willing to accept the government shutting down our entire economy and destroying countless small businesses, all because they were scared of the virus.
And having just lost a friend due to long-term complications of getting COVID, I’m not interested in hearing that it was “just the flu” or anything of the sort right now. It was a virus, people were scared, let’s leave it there.
Anyway, folks tolerate things when they’re scared they wouldn’t tolerate otherwise.
Enter Murthy.
Then enter DeSantis who isn’t playing that crap in the least, nor should he. A lot of other governors need to step up and say as much because Murthy doesn’t actually have the authority to force literally any of this into being. Lawmakers have to sign on, and it’s a lot easier to withstand any potential storm if you’re not having to withstand it alone.
This is an attempt to justify infringing on our rights. DeSantis has been pretty good about saying that’s not going to happen in Florida–hell, he managed to get them permitless concealed carry, so that’s more than just holding the line–so I’m not surprised that he’s saying this.
The fact that he’s no longer running for president, though, means this isn’t much of a political stunt, and that’s probably the best part of this.
