Time to Eliminate the Unconscionable Federal Ban on Research for Gun Violence
As Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said today:
With 30,000 gun deaths every year, America is in the middle of a public health epidemic. Therefore, I call on the omnibus negotiators to remove the outrageous ban on federal research on gun violence…The American people deserve the facts. Members of Congress need the data. Republicans cannot use willful ignorance to justify their inaction on gun violence.
Even former Republican Congressman Jay Dickey, the original author of the Dickey Amendment that ended research for gun violence, recently expressed his regrets in a letter and is calling for research on gun violence:
Research could have been continued on gun violence without infringing on the rights of gun owners, in the same fashion that the highway industry continued its research without eliminating the automobile…it is my position that somehow or someway we should slowly but methodically fund such research until a solution is reached. Doing nothing is no longer an acceptable solution.
And, physicians from across the country are also pleading for research:
The result of [this ban] has had a chilling effect on the entire research community.
Since 1996, the federal government has spent $240 million a year on traffic safety research and since 1970 we have been able to save 360,000 lives. During the same period, there has been almost no publicly funded research on gun violence, which kills the same number of people every year.
As a physician and healthcare professional, I and thousands of my colleagues, remain deeply concerned about gun violence in the United States. We are on the frontlines caring for shooting victims and we understand that gun violence is one of the most important public health and injury issues in the U.S. Yet, over the last 20 years, little has been done to combat this crisis with data and scientific evidence.
With this research ban in place how do we address the growing problem of gun violence in this country?
The CDC can lead the way in unbiased research that every single one us can support, including responsible gun owners…
It's time for research, not rhetoric to address gun violence in America.
The Huffington Post writes: "Well over half a million people have died by firearms since 1996, when the ban on gun violence research was enacted." House Republicans – there are no good, legitimate reasons to keep this federal ban in place. It's time to end it.