"My hope is this advisory, is that we can actually take it out of the realm of politics and put it into the realm of public health, which is where it belongs," U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said.
"It's absolutely welcome and crucial because, fundamentally, the surgeon general has called out a common value that we all share, which is we have to keep children safe. We have to keep community members safe," said Dr. John Rich, director of the Rush BMO Institute for Health Equity. Pastor Anthony Williams, who for years has been advocating for making violence a public health crisis, is hoping that with the surgeon general raising awareness, communities might become safer.
At an unrelated event about early childcare investments, the governor said it's important to put a new emphasis on violence prevention.