DeLauro Offers Amendment to Allow Research on Gun Violence Prevention

WASHINGTON, DC (July 7, 2016) — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) today released the following statement regarding an amendment she offered during the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education subcommittee markup. The amendment would direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to support gun violence prevention research with the funding already provided to the Injury Center.

“Research is a critical part of any public health emergency—but unfortunately, research on gun violence is currently stalled. At a time when the American Medical Association has called gun violence in the U.S. a ‘public health crisis,’ this research has the potential to save lives by unlocking the capabilities of one of our government’s great research institutions.

“We research other public health risks—cigarettes, auto accidents, and addiction—in order to curb the damage they do to our society. Why is gun violence treated differently? It is time to listen to the experts and treat this like any other public health crisis: with the urgency and the resources it deserves. It is common sense.

“While we must ultimately bring comprehensive, common-sense gun violence prevention measures to the House floor, at the very least, we can pass my amendment and take an important first step in directing the CDC to conduct critical gun violence research, without the use of additional funds. Victims of gun violence and their families deserve it.”

DeLauro’s amendment would ask the CDC to identify the characteristics of non-self-inflicted fatal and nonfatal gun injury; the attributes of guns, ammunition, and other circumstances that affect whether a gunshot injury will be fatal or nonfatal; and the characteristics that differentiate mass shootings that were prevented from those that were carried out.

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