The bold, banner headline at the popular left-leaning website nationaljournal.com underscores the critical importance of what just happened in the ongoing fight over gun rights and the Second Amendment.
Senate Confirms Gun-Control Advocate as Surgeon General
Harry Reid didn’t dare do it before the midterms, fearing the provocation would jeopardize vulnerable Democrat candidates. But now that the voting is over — and there’s nothing more to lose electorally in the near future — Reid pushed through the confirmation of Massachusetts physician Vivek Murthy as the nation’s next surgeon general.
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Murthy has indicated his support for new gun control measures, saying that gun violence is a public health concern.
The vote in favor of President Obama’s choice for the post was relatively close, with several Democrat senators defecting and voting with all but one Republican against the confirmation, as we learn from nationaljournal.com:
The Senate’s 51-43 vote confirming Massachusetts physician Vivek Murthy as the next surgeon general marks the end of a protracted fight over gun control and Murthy’s views on it.
Indeed, three pro-gun Democrats opposed the nomination on Monday evening: Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
But, as Western Journalism has reported, a dramatically changing national mood about gun rights doesn’t conform with Murthy’s confirmation as a gun-control advocate. It comes on the heels of a national Pew Research Center poll showing that support for gun control could carry a higher political cost than it has in the past.
For the first time in more than 20 years, Americans believe it is more important to protect the rights of gun owners than to control gun ownership, according to the Pew survey.
Another GOP concern about Murthy is his clear and consistent partisan support for Obama and ObamaCare. As reported at thehill.com:
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Murthy, a Harvard and Yale-trained internist, was also criticized for campaigning for Obama in 2012 for a group called Doctors for America, and for his vocal support of the healthcare law, which he acknowledged “can be perceived as partisan.”
Senate Republicans were adamant, though not unanimous, in their opposition to Murthy. They called him unqualified to manage more than 6,000 commissioned public health officers, given that, at the age of 36, he is the youngest ever to become surgeon general.
Now that Dr. Vivek Murthy is officially in the post, there’s concern on the right that he will provide another avenue for President Obama to use administrative, bureaucratic measures to advance his gun control agenda that he couldn’t push through Congress.