Who can doubt that rampant gun violence constitutes a U.S. public health emergency? At least 100 Americans die daily, not to mention the many more that are injured and maimed. Yet, due to disastrously effective lobbying by the NRA and other pro-weapons advocates, Congress has banned federal funding of research into gun-related violence since 1996.
Congress may at last be waking up from its Second Amendment stupor. News reports indicate that the big funding bill expected to pass next week (necessary to avoid another government shutdown, toxic to politicians of every stripe in election year 2020) includes a provision for $25 million in research funds to be split between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.
Funding for gun violence research is long overdue, and the dollar figure might be far higher. But better this than nothing, and most assuredly better late than never.
The Southern Miss School of Social Work 