68 Medical and Public Health Organizations Call to End the Ban on Federal Gun Research
Health Community United in Calls for Research to Address Gun Violence
Today, 68 medical and public health organizations representing health professionals across the country join with members of the scientific community to urge Congress to strike the effective federal ban on gun research from the Omnibus and fund the research we need to save lives. Their calls echo thousands of physicians, more than 100 of our country’s leading public health researchers, 110 members of Congress, President Obama, Leader Pelosi and Rep. Dickey.
“Medical, public health professionals and members of the scientific community know that federal research is crucial to saving lives,” said Mona Mangat, MD, Chair of Doctors for America. “Federal scientific data has driven policy to save lives from motor vehicle accidents, sudden infant death syndrome, lead poisoning, and countless other public health crises. We believe it’s time for Congress to lift the effective ban, fund research, and save lives.”
The medical and public health community believe gun violence is a serious public health epidemic. However, since 1996, Congress has retained an amendment to the appropriations bill that has effectively blocked the CDC from carrying out the necessary research to better understand how to prevent gun violence. In addition to the ban, Congress also cut funding for gun violence research and, in 2011, extended the research restriction to the NIH. The result of these actions has had a chilling effect on gun violence research.
“We must begin to close the gap in knowledge surrounding gun violence prevention,” said Georges C. Benjamin, MD, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “I am convinced that a public health approach to this tragic epidemic can experience the same success we have had in reducing preventable injury and death related to other health emergencies. But we must get the evidence through a science based approach in order to develop the best strategies that save lives.”
While gun violence claims the lives of 90 Americans everyday, there has been almost no publicly funded research on gun violence for nearly 20 years. During that time, the federal government has spent over $240 million a year on traffic safety and we have been able to save 360,000 lives.
The letter to Congress is included below and available online.
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Majority Leader
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Paul Ryan
Speaker
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Harry Reid
Minority Leader
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Minority Leader
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
cc: Members of Congress
Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Reid, Speaker Ryan, Minority Leader Pelosi, and members of Congress,
Medical and public health organizations representing health professionals across the country join with members of the scientific community to urge you to end the federal ban on gun violence research and fund this critical work. Gun violence is a serious public health epidemic resulting in the senseless deaths of 90 Americans every day.
As health care providers and public health professionals, we are overwhelmed in our emergency departments, clinics, offices, and communities with the victims of mass shootings, homicides, suicides, accidental shootings, and injuries every day. As we work to address the devastating and long- lasting emotional effects of gun violence on victims and their families, we are hampered by the lack of evidence- based research to use to point our communities towards proven gun violence prevention programs.
The effective ban on federal research has stymied our progress on gun violence prevention for the past 20 years. Former Representative Jay Dickey (R-AR), author of the current language that bans gun violence research, recently noted that, “it is my position that somehow or someway we should slowly but methodically fund [gun] research until a solution is reached. Doing nothing is no longer an acceptable solution.”
Thousands of physicians, more than 100 of our country’s leading public health researchers, 110 members of Congress, President Obama, Rep. Dickey, and the undersigned organizations are calling on you to allow research to resume. Americans deserve to feel safe knowing that we are working with the best tools and information in the fight to reduce gun violence.
Sincerely,
Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health
Academic Pediatric Association
Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless, Inc.
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
American College of Emergency Physicians
American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
American College of Physicians
American College of Preventive Medicine
American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
American Geriatrics Society
American Medical Women's Association
American Pediatric Society
American Psychiatric Association
American Psychological Association
American Psychosomatic Society
American Public Health Association
American Society of Hematology
American Sociological Association
American Thoracic Society
Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs
California Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians
California Public Health Association-North
Care for the Homeless
Child Welfare League of America
Children’s Defense Fund
Commission on the Public's Health System
Committee of Interns and Residents
Consortium of Social Science Associations
Delaware Academy of Medicine
Delaware Public Health Association
Doctors Council SEIU
Doctors for America
Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Futures Without Violence
Health Care for the Homeless of Maryland
Minority Health Institute
National AHEC Organization
National Association of County and City Health Officials
National Association of Medical Examiners
National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health
National Association of Social Workers
National Association of State Head Injury Administrators
National Child Abuse Coalition
National Health Care for the Homeless Council
National Hispanic Medical Association
National Medical Council on Gun Violence
National Network of Public Health Institutes
National Physicians Alliance
National Violence Prevention Network
Pediatric Policy Council
Physicians for a National Health Program - NY Metro Chapter
Physicians for Reproductive Health
Physicians for the Prevention of Gun Violence
Prevention Institute
Public Health Institute
Research!America
Safe States Alliance
Saint Joseph's Health System
School-Based Health Alliance
SEIU Nurse Alliance
Society for Pediatric Research
Society of General Internal Medicine
Stop It Now!
Suicide Awareness Voices of Education
Trust for America’s Health
Virginia Public Health Association
Washington State Public Health Association
Doctors for America mobilizes doctors and medical students to be leaders in putting patients over politics on the pressing issues of the day to improve the health of our patients, communities, and nation.
