CDC gets approval to research gun violence again, sort of

By Daniel Terrill

Under pressure to act on gun violence, Congressional lawmakers made it clear with the new spending bill that the Centers for Disease Control can research the issue, but the clarity doesn’t exactly put the issue to bed.
The Senate approved a measure Wednesday that explains the “CDC has the authority to conduct research on the causes of gun violence,” but cannot use “funding to advocate or promote gun control.” Yet, the issue isn’t so cut and dry.
The measure quotes Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar during a Congressional hearing on Feb. 15, the day after a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, left 17 people dead and 15 others injured. Azar was responding to a question about a rider added to the spending bill 20 years ago that effectively put the kibosh on gun violence research. “So my understanding is that the rider does not in any way impede our ability to conduct our research mission,” Azar said. “It is simply about advocacy.”
Although the rider, referred to as the Dickey amendment, which has been maintained in the spending bill, stated “none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may

Source: Guns.com