R
rdean
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Hours before San Bernardino shooting, doctors urged Congress to lift funding ban on gun violence research
The group cited a letter released by former Rep. Jay Dickey of Arkansas, who authored an amendment that restricted federal funding for research into gun violence and its effects on public health. He now regrets that effort.
"Research could have been continued on gun violence without infringing on the rights of gun owners," wrote Dickey, who has said he only wanted to ensure that no dollars went to gun control advocacy.
United States has experienced an average of more than one mass shooting for every day of 2015. (Seems a reason for Republicans to be dancing in the street)
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The roots of the research ban go back to 1996, when the NRA accused the public health agency of lobbying for gun control. That year, a Republican congressman stripped $2.6 million from the CDC budget, the exact amount spent on gun research the previous year. Soon the funding was restored, but designated elsewhere, and wording was inserted into the CDC’s appropriations bill that, “None of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control.”
The CDC interpreted this to mean it should avoid studying guns in any fashion.
“It basically was a shot across the bow by Congress on the part of the NRA,” said Mark Rosenberg, who was director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Control and Prevention when the ban went into effect. “All federally funded research was shut down.”
Why the CDC still isn’t researching gun violence, despite the ban being lifted two years ago
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99% of everything bad can be traced back to the GOP. We see it again and again. And still, they can't name a single thing in the last 40 years that they have done that helps a majority of Americans.
The group cited a letter released by former Rep. Jay Dickey of Arkansas, who authored an amendment that restricted federal funding for research into gun violence and its effects on public health. He now regrets that effort.
"Research could have been continued on gun violence without infringing on the rights of gun owners," wrote Dickey, who has said he only wanted to ensure that no dollars went to gun control advocacy.
United States has experienced an average of more than one mass shooting for every day of 2015. (Seems a reason for Republicans to be dancing in the street)
------------------------------
The roots of the research ban go back to 1996, when the NRA accused the public health agency of lobbying for gun control. That year, a Republican congressman stripped $2.6 million from the CDC budget, the exact amount spent on gun research the previous year. Soon the funding was restored, but designated elsewhere, and wording was inserted into the CDC’s appropriations bill that, “None of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control.”
The CDC interpreted this to mean it should avoid studying guns in any fashion.
“It basically was a shot across the bow by Congress on the part of the NRA,” said Mark Rosenberg, who was director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Control and Prevention when the ban went into effect. “All federally funded research was shut down.”
Why the CDC still isn’t researching gun violence, despite the ban being lifted two years ago
-----------------------------------------
99% of everything bad can be traced back to the GOP. We see it again and again. And still, they can't name a single thing in the last 40 years that they have done that helps a majority of Americans.
