Gun violence soars in U.S. as public health concern: poll

NEW YORK, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Gun violence has surged ahead of the opioid crisis as Americans' top public health concern, according to the latest edition of the Axios-Ipsos American Health Index.

A spate of recent mass shootings may have focused attention on the issue in ways that weren't apparent in the last poll in February, with 26 percent of respondents saying "access to guns or firearms" as the No. 1 threat to American public health, up from 17 percent in February, Axios said in a report of the survey.