Research Barriers
Research funding is necessary to allow scientists, professors and physicians to pursue high quality research.
regulations on FIREARM RESEARCH
In 1996, Congress passed the Dickey amendment, which forbids the Centers for Disease Control for funding research that could be deemed to “advocate or promote gun control” (104th Congress. "Public Law 104-208"). This was instituted after landmark research released in 1993 showed that the presence of firearms increased the risk of both homicide and suicide in the home. (1) Since then, rigorous firearms research has plummeted. Though a clarification in March, 2018 confirmed that the CDC may fund firearm research, the Dickey amendment remains and there has to date been no increase in funding seen. (2) Thankfully, in 2020, negotiations have allowed for federal funding for firearm research for the first time in 25 years, giving us a brilliant opportunity to quantify the extreme toll that firearms take on our public health. (3)
FUNDING OF EQUIVALENT CAUSES OF MORTALITY
Despite firearms' equivalent or higher mortality rate compared to other disease states such as Prostate cancer and liver disease, the funding for firearms is astronomically lower.
Number of Deaths (2016) VS NIH Funding by Cause of MortalitY
Note: the NIH's most recent formal estimate of firearm funding is from 2015, and can be found at: https://www.nih.gov/sites/default/files/institutes/foia/firearm-project-1996-2015.pdf. All other funding sources are noted from 2017.
Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, et al. Deaths: Final data for 2014. National vital statistics reports; vol 65 no 4. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2016.
“NIH Categorical Spending -NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools (RePORT).” National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, report.nih.gov/categorical_spending.aspx.
Stolberg, Sheryl Gay. “Can New Gun Violence Research Find a Path around the Political Stalemate?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 Mar. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/27/us/politics/gun-violence-research-cdc.html.
PUBLICATIONS ABOUT FIREARMS AND VIOLENCE PER MILLION PUBLICATIONS VS TOTAL ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
Alcorn, Ted. "Trends in research publications about gun violence in the United States, 1960 to 2014." JAMA internal medicine 177.1 (2017): 124-126.
(1) Kellermann, Arthur L., et al. "Gun ownership as a risk factor for homicide in the home." New England Journal of Medicine329.15 (1993): 1084-1091. )
(2) DeBonis, Mike, O'Keefe, Ed, and Werner, Erica. (22 March 2018). "Here's what Congress is stuffing into its $1.3 trillion spending bill". Washington Post. Retrieved 22 March 2018.