<snip>
It’s widely supposed that Congress enacted a “ban” on federal
funding for gun violence research in 1996. That isn’t quite true,
says Mark Rosenberg, a gun violence expert who was head of the
federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National
Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the time.
But the truth is even more demoralizing.
Infuriated by CDC-funded research suggesting that having firearms in
the home sharply increased the risks of homicide, the NRA goaded
Congress in 1996 into stripping the injury center’s funding for gun
violence research – $2.6 million. Congress then passed a measure
drafted by then-Rep. Jay Dickey (R-Ga.) forbidding the CDC to spend
funds “to advocate or promote gun control.” (The NRA initially hoped
to eradicate the injury center entirely.)
The Dickey Amendment didn’t technically ban any federally funded gun
violence research. The real blow was delivered by a succession of
pusillanimous CDC directors, who decided that the safest course
bureaucratically was simply to zero out the whole field.
<snip>
The consequence is that we’re flying blind on gun violence. Rosenberg
and other experts list four topics on which research is crucial.
First is the scale of the problem — how many people are shot,
is the number rising or falling, who gets shot, under what circumstances,
and with what weapons?
Second, what are the causes? “What leads people to shoot other
people or kill themselves?” Rosenberg asked.
(Two-thirds of gun deaths are suicides, he says.)
Third is learning what works to prevent gun violence, and fourth
is figuring out how to translate these findings into policy.
Legislators across the country have enacted laws allowing
open-carry of firearms on the street or in public places, or
authorizing teachers to carry arms in the classroom or on campus,
“with no idea whether that would result in more people being killed or
more lives being saved,” Rosenberg says.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-gun-research-funding-20160614-snap-story.html
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