A letter in The Public Forum ("More gun research," Aug. 5) deals with a related issue that is important and critical. Andrew Chalmers notes that Congress has blocked federal funding from being used for research on gun violence and on its long term effects on health and well-being, and that this prohibition is to our harm. Mr. Chalmers appropriately encourages readers to charge their representatives with lifting this injurious congressional ban. We should do more than that, and also charge our representatives to become advocates for substantive investigation into the public health challenge of firearm violence.