"We believe we've got a very important mission ... to do research on the causes of violence and the causes behind tragedies like this," HHS Secretary Alex Azar said, referencing Tuesday's mass shooting at a Florida school. | Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images Trump’s new health chief backs CDC research on gun violence

HHS Secretary Alex Azar today opened the door to expanding federal gun violence research, waving off concerns about congressional restrictions on studying the issue.

Azar told an Energy and Commerce subcommittee that a provision passed two decades ago limiting the CDC's work on gun violence only prevents it from taking an advocacy position — not from doing research.


"My understanding is that the rider does not in any way impede our ability to conduct our research mission," he said. "We're in the science business and the evidence-generating business, and so I will have our agency certainly working in this field, as they do across the broad spectrum of disease control and prevention."

Pressed by Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) to be "proactive" on the issue, Azar committed to encouraging the study of gun violence within the department.

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"We believe we've got a very important mission with our work with serious mental illness as well as our ability to do research on the causes of violence and the causes behind tragedies like this," he said, referencing Tuesday's mass shooting at a Florida school. "So that is a priority for us."

The CDC's ability to study gun violence has been limited by a 1996 amendment that prevented the agency from collecting data to advocate for gun control. President Barack Obama signed an order in 2013 directing the CDC to resume its research, but its work has remained limited.