It’s that time of year, again: The federal government is in danger of shutting down if budgets aren’t ratified by this Friday.
The House of Representatives passed a $1.37 trillion spending package on Tuesday. It includes money for President Trump’s border wall, increasing the age for buying tobacco from 18 to 21, and $25 million for research on gun violence.
The money allotted for gun-violence research is to be divided between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The idea is to use the money to research all the underlying causes of firearm fatalities and injuries in the U.S.
“It’s discovering what science can do for a problem like this. If you look at what science can do for heart disease, for cancer. It’s saved tens of thousands of lives,” Mark Rosenberg, former director of CDC research on firearm violence, told USA Today.
SEE ALSO: Gun Ownership on Trial: John Lott’s Incredible Defense
“This is going to unlock a vein of pure gold that people on both sides of the aisle will appreciate,” he added.
Ideally, scientists gathering information should not be a threat to anyone. Science should lead to making informed decisions. The problem, of course, is that anti-gun lawmakers, advocates, and media personalities often misrepresent the truth to push a gun-banning agenda.
For instance, other media outlets report today that 40,000 Americans are killed each year by gun violence. They cite a report from the CDC about 2017’s records.
However, that was specific to 2017, not “each year,” and nearly 60 percent of those deaths were suicides, which has much more to do with mental health than it does with purported “lax gun laws.”
| Injury Deaths Involving Firearms in 2017 | |
| Total deaths | 39,773 |
| Untintentional | 486 |
| Suicide | 23,854 |
| Homicide | 14,542 |
| Undetermined | 338 |
| Legal Intervention/War | 553 |
| (Source: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_09-508.pdf, page 51) |
Government-funded research into gun violence was significantly reduced over the past three decades after the passage of the 1996 Dickey Amendment.
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The Amendment was enacted to prevent agencies like the CDC or the NIH from promoting or advocating for gun control. It was not designed to dry up funding for research but that’s what happened.
Last year, lawmakers edited the language of the Amendment to make it clear that the Fed could appropriate money to study the underlying causes of gun deaths and gun-related injuries in America.
And now it’s moving forward with that initial $25 million. (Maybe it’s just me but that seems like a big check to cut to tell us what we already know: the vast majority of violence, including gun violence, is fueled by gangs and drugs — including alcohol. Crackdown on violent gangs and get more people to embrace a sober lifestyle and violence across the board will decline. It’s not rocket science.)
Anyway, the 2020 spending bill has passed the House, but it must pass the Senate and be signed by President Trump by Friday, or else the government may be shut down. Again.
Let’s think about how scientists are “unbiased” and “look at all of the evidence” and “search for truth.” Hahah.
“Scientists” are heading the charge to strip us of many of the benefits of our modern world with the “man-caused global warming” BS. Not ALL scientists, but many who haven’t signed on to that fraud have to keep their true beliefs to themselves to protect their livelihoods.
And a whole bunch of “scientists” are supporting the insane fiction that a man can become a woman by saying so, and vice versa. And the even worse and more harmful fiction that a child, even a toddler, can express his/her desire to be the gender opposite the one born as, AND that the medical profession/ educators/even the child’s parents must bow to that desire and fully support it even to the extent of providing hormone and surgical treatments.
So don’t expect “scientists” to find anything beneficial, helpful, or worthwhile about gun ownership!
You’re exactly right. Even scientists have to pay the mortgage, by food and keep the kids in clothing. And like many others, scientists know where the money is…and how to get it.
Just another way for the lefties to cook the books.
CDC should study itself. Independent studies have shown that over 250,000 people die every year in the US from misdiagnosis, malpractice, or other preventable medical errors committed by doctors, nurses, staff, and the like. Guns save lives, otherwise cops wouldn’t carry them.
So when will the Government research the use of Guns in personal protection. How many times per Day/Month/Year does a gun play a roll in personal protection.
Considering that “reducing gun violence” is not about protecting public safety but about cooking up “scientific evidence” to support more gun restrictions, it’s not surprising that the CDC doesn’t even look at its own data that shows since 1993, gun accident deaths have decreased 74%, gun homicides decreased 34%. They would also ask why authorities failed to use their laws and procedures that could’ve prevented Sandy Hook, Parkland, Thousand Oaks, El Paso, Odessa, Aurora Theater, etc.,
How asinine can you get? Let’s spend money on violence research or gang violence research or suicide prevention. As we all know, the gun is just the tool. Tools, just like the politicians that are chomping at the bit to spin a narrative that somehow guns are causing the problem.
Guns don’t commit violence.
People do. some use guns.
MOST DON’T!
The thing about common sense in Congress is that there is none. I doubt this current research into gun violence will change one single thing. Another waste of tax payers money.
The CDC outlived its usefulness 70 years ago following World War ll. It has been a tool of the Left in American ever since. I don’t need some CDC director telling me to get a bowl of soup when I have a cold (they did) or to keep guns out of the reach of children (they did) or not to drive drunk (they did). They believe that the average Joe is an idiot. They should all get their final checks and try to find a job in the private sector like the rest of us.
” Federal Budget Includes $25 Million for Gun Violence Research ”
How much is allotted to minority violence research ?
CDC needs to look at bridges and why they are used for suicide!
We already know who causes most of the “gun violence” in this country: young black males, drug gangs, and recidivist felons. Let’s waste $25,000,000 so some liberal “researcher” can dissect this further and blame “society” or “lax gun laws”….SMDH
This is never good. Most Federal employees are liberals, so the results of study is going to conclude that “gun violence,” a term made up by gun controllers. Guns are not inherently violent, the person or persons using it to commit a violent crime is the issue. But rest assured, the CDC and NIH will come to a different conclusion. Just like the conclusions on so-called “climate change.” Junk science produces nonsense and sensationalized dire consequences.
I had the same thought exactly. Nothing good can come of it. Besides, $25 million in Washington DC is cab fare. This is a great example of why the national budgets (oops, we don’t have a budget anymore) The SPENDING resolutions are growing out of control. If they swept up all these 25 million dollar end of year giveaways it would come to some real money.