Dr. Fauci responds to uptick in gun violence in the US: 'How can you say that's not a public health issue?'

• Dr. Fauci spoke on the rise in gun violence in the United States this year, calling it "horrifying."
• "How can you say that's not a public health issue?" Fauci said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday.
• Fauci's remarks following a rise in mass shootings across the country.

Dr. Anthony Fauci called the uptick in mass shootings "horrifying" when asked on CNN's "State of the Union" if gun violence is a public health emergency.

"When you see people getting killed, I mean, in this last month, it's just been horrifying what's happened. How can you say that's not a public health issue?" Fauci said Sunday.

-State of the Union (@CNNSotu) April 18, 2021

According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 150 mass shootings in 2021 at the time of publication. As Insider's Haven Orecchio-Egresitz and Hannah Beckler reported, shootings have been up nearly 73% compared to last year during the same time span.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in over 500,000 deaths, mass shootings have seen a significant increase and have taken more lives. Last month, two mass shootings occurred a week apart. Eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, died in the Atlanta-area shootings, and at Boulder, Colorado grocery store, 10 people were killed by an armed man.

Last week, eight people were killed, and others were wounded following a shooting at a FedEx facility by Indianapolis, Indiana International Airport on Thursday.

Following the shooting in Indiana, President Joe Biden released a statement on Friday calling gun violence "an epidemic in America."

"Last week, I called on the Justice Department to better protect Americans from gun violence. I also urged Congress to hear the call of the American people - including the vast majority of gun owners - to enact commonsense gun violence prevention legislation, like universal background checks and a ban of war and high-capacity magazines," Biden said in the statement.

He continued: "Too many Americans are dying every single day from gun violence. It stains our character and pierces the very soul of our nation. We can, and must, do more to act and to save lives."