Gun-Control Surgeon General Vivek Murphy

Surgeon General Vivek Murphy

Conservatives, and Second Amendment supporters in particular, are worried about the recent appointment of Vivik Murphy as the next surgeon general.

Aside from the argument that a national doctor is a vestigial concern, what really is there to worry about? President Obama has lost his second Secretary of Defense, and the GOP-controlled US Senate will hold up the appointment of the next Attorney General because of executive amnesty.

Now, what can Surgeon General Murphy do?

Any executive action on guns will fail. Murphy can be as pro-gun control as he pleases, but President Obama is burning through his deficient political capital already. His latest attempt to normalize relations with Cuba has received a bipartisan backlash.

What is Vivek going to do? Write a prescription to the American people to remove two bullets from their neighbors' firearms, then call him in the morning?

On a related note, The LA Times article about Murphy took efforts to paint Republicans as the big losers in the confirmation hearing, then added the rhetoric of the Democrats, who will move to minority status next year.

But his confirmation, coming almost two years to the day after the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, allowed Democrats to wrap up their majority control of the Senate with a victory.

The paper had to mention Sandy Hook. What about Fort Hood, or other gun massacres? The insistence to bring up gun violence, within the context of a political event combined with emotional history, is a telling failure of the liberal media, depicting Republicans as harsh and backward, but presenting the Democrats as victors. Apparently, the Times' editors forgot about the nine-seat US Senate sweep for the GOP, plus added seats in the House.

Supporters have defended Murthy, saying that his views are not extreme and that most Americans support tougher gun-control laws. They also argued that the nation needs a surgeon general at the forefront of the nation’s public health team, noting the recent Ebola crisis.

Most Americans do not support gun-control laws. Gun-control advocates, campaigners, and candidates lost in large numbers in 2014. Colorado residents had recalled two state senators last year for their gun-control measures. Three to one, constituents voiced their opposition to the Toomey-Manchin background check legislation, too. Furthermore, what difference does a Surgeon General make in combating Ebola, when President Obama refuses to quarantine travelers from infected countries? A federal bureaucrat is not going to transform the United States into an anti-septic emergency room.

The missing debate in Washington is not about which Surgeon General to confirm, but why confirm another official in the first place?