3 ms·

As I understand it, they’ve only lobbied to prevent biased, underhanded research: none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Cen

by brians 9y ago

As I understand it, they’ve only lobbied to prevent biased, underhanded research: 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. CDC can discover facts and make observations all they like, but is barred from advocacy. Why did they stop all work after that? Don’t they have any work on violence and guns that was inquiry rather than advocacy?

jogjayr 9y ago
> Why did they stop all work after that? I didn't have any knowledge of this before now but apparently the answer might be "fear". The CDC (or more accurately the researchers there) think any gun violence research is a sure way to have your funding cut or career curtailed. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2015/01/14/why-the-cdc-still-isnt-researching-gun-violence-despite-the-ban-being-lifted-two-years-ago/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2015/01/14/...
Coding_Cat 9y ago
It would be consistent with the funding though. >funds made available for injury prevention and control Say that research shows that more guns => more injuries. It would be reasonable to then hypothesis that gun control could lead to less injuries (injury prevention) and that would bring research into effective methods of gun control into their scope. (and the verification that it leads to less violence).
mturmon 9y ago
This is not a fair summary. The NRA lobbied Congress in the 1990s, and Congress reduced the CDC budget by the amount that had been used to study gun related deaths. This resulted in the CDC no longer funding research relating guns to deaths. Congress has specifically rejected amendments that would allow such work. The research that was de-funded was peer reviewed and appeared in the NEJM. https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-07-02/quietly-congress-extends-ban-cdc-research-gun-violence https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-07-02/quietly-congress-exte...

by brians 9y ago

jogjayr 9y ago

> Why did they stop all work after that? I didn't have any knowledge of this before now but apparently the answer might be "fear". The CDC (or more accurately the researchers there) think any gun violence research is a sure way to have your funding cut or career curtailed. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2015/01/14/why-the-cdc-still-isnt-researching-gun-violence-despite-the-ban-being-lifted-two-years-ago/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2015/01/14/...

Coding_Cat 9y ago

It would be consistent with the funding though. >funds made available for injury prevention and control Say that research shows that more guns => more injuries. It would be reasonable to then hypothesis that gun control could lead to less injuries (injury prevention) and that would bring research into effective methods of gun control into their scope. (and the verification that it leads to less violence).

mturmon 9y ago

This is not a fair summary. The NRA lobbied Congress in the 1990s, and Congress reduced the CDC budget by the amount that had been used to study gun related deaths. This resulted in the CDC no longer funding research relating guns to deaths. Congress has specifically rejected amendments that would allow such work. The research that was de-funded was peer reviewed and appeared in the NEJM. https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-07-02/quietly-congress-extends-ban-cdc-research-gun-violence https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-07-02/quietly-congress-exte...