President Donald Trump’s administration has removed the Biden-era Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) advisory designating gun violence as a public health crisis, the first designation of its kind.

“HHS and the Office of the Surgeon General are complying with President Trump’s Executive Order on Protecting Second Amendment Rights,” said HHS Deputy Press Secretary Emily Hillard in a statement provided to The Epoch Times.

The advisory, now deleted, advocated for a “public health approach” to combating gun violence, citing federal efforts against tobacco and drunk driving as a potential template for a fight against gun violence.

“The increasing number of children and adolescents dying from firearm‑related injuries and the reverberating mental health impacts on society make firearm violence an urgent public health crisis in America,” said former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.

“A public health approach can guide our strategy and actions, as it has done in the past with successful efforts to address tobacco‑related disease and motor vehicle crashes. It is up to us to take on this generational challenge with the urgency and clarity the moment demands. The safety and well‑being of our children and future generations are at stake,” Murthy added.

That advisory could potentially have been used by the HHS to apply the same tactics to gun users as the government’s crackdown on tobacco employed, such as imposing heavy taxes on firearms, requiring public health labels on ammunition, or raising age requirements for firearm ownership.

Second Amendment rights advocates celebrated the Trump administration’s removal of the advisory as a victory for firearm owners.

“Removing that absurd ‘advisory’ from the HHS website was a no-brainer and absolutely the correct call,” Eric Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America, told The Epoch Times.

“The surgeon general should have never issued this advisory. He was just catering to the gun control lobby. Its total effect was symbolism over substance. Gun ownership is not a communicable disease,” said Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Chairman Alan Gottlieb speaking to the outlet.

HHS’s decision to remove the advisory aligns with a February executive order from President Trump calling for an end to any government agreements, advisories, or rules that infringe upon Second Amendment rights.