Advocates Continue Push For Federal Gun Research

By Tom Knighton

The Dickie Amendment gets a lot of the blame for the lack of gun research being conducted by the Centers for Disease Control. Activists say that it basically kills any and all efforts the CDC would undertake to investigate gun violence in the United States. Since they also argue that gun violence is a public health crisis, they see this is a massive problem.

Which is why the Dickie Amendment has been under assault recently. Activists want to see the law repealed.

The American Medical Association says gun violence in America is a public health crisis, but unlike other threats, guns haven’t been researched by the federal government for more than 20 years.

That’s because of legislation called the “Dickey Amendment,” which passed in 1996, and banned the use of federal dollars to advocate for gun control.

As a result, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stopped researching gun violence out of fear their findings could be considered a violation of the ban.

Jonathan Lowy with the Brady Campaign blames the gun lobby’s grip on Congress.

“We know how to address and solve public health crisis in America, we’ve done it with automobile deaths, and obesity and smoking,” Lowy said. …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms