141 Medical Groups Urge Congress to Restore Funding for Gun Violence Research Doctors call on lawmakers to "end the dramatic chilling effect” of a law seen as curbing almost all CDC firearm studies.

A coalition of 141 medical organizations sent a letter to four senior members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees on Wednesday urging them to restore funding for gun violence research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Medical professionals and our communities work to address the devastating and long-lasting physical and emotional effects of gun violence on victims, their families and their friends, but are hampered by the insufficient body of evidence-based research to use to point communities toward proven gun violence prevention programs and policies,” the letter reads.

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The letter was released by Doctors for America, an umbrella group that advocates for affordable healthcare. It asks Congress to reconsider a 1996 tack-on to an appropriations bill that “has had a dramatic chilling effect” on the CDC’s gun research efforts. That measure, known as the Dickey Amendment (named for Arkansas Republican Congressman Jay Dickey), forbids the CDC from using its funding to “advocate or promote gun control.” Though a rising chorus of critics have asserted that the amendment should not stand in the way of gun research, it is widely cited as the cause of the CDC’s reluctance for nearly two decades to study gun violence, a public health issue that claims more more than 30,000 lives each year in America.

Signatories to the letter include public health organizations, medical groups, and research universities claiming to represent more than 1 million members across the country.

The letter identifies what it says are common-sense priorities that require more study, including accidental shootings, firearms suicides, and the impact of state policies — like background checks and safe storage laws — on the rate of firearms-related deaths.

“A central part of preventing future tragedies is through conducting rigorous scientific research as this has been a proven successful approach in reducing deaths due to other injuries,” it reads.

As The Trace reported earlier this week, several top CDC officials believe the agency could be doing much more to research gun violence, even with the Dickey Amendment in place. Mark Rosenberg, a founder of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, said the Dickey Amendment does not forbid the CDC from studying the issue — and called on the agency’s leadership to show courage by addressing a public health crisis.

The letter acknowledges this distinction, adding that other steps taken by Congress have contributed to the CDC’s reluctance to embark on gun violence research. The year after the Dickey Amendment passed, in 1997, lawmakers redirected all of the money previously earmarked by the CDC for gun violence research to the study of traumatic brain injury — a clear sign, some say, that the issue was off limits.

The letter is addressed to Senate Appropriations Committee members Thad Cochran, Barbara Mikulski, Harold Rogers, and Nita Lowey. “What we’re hoping is that members of Congress will see that funding research is not a political stance,” Alice Chen, the executive director for Doctors for America, tells The Trace. “It is a smart thing to do. It is the right thing to do.”

On December 2, three hours after a husband and wife who had claimed allegiance to ISIS killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, Doctors for America released an online petition calling for an end to the “CDC gun violence research ban.” It has received nearly 6,000 signatures.

“We have heard from doctors everywhere who have talked about patients they’ve cared for who have been affected by gun violence,” Chen says. “They’ve been shot, their family members have been shot, they’re living with the consequences 20 years later. And research is an obvious thing that needs to be done in order to help everybody figure out the right solution.”

Below, a copy of the full letter:

The Honorable Thad Cochran

Chairman, Appropriations Committee

U.S. Senate

Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Barbara Mikulski

Vice Chairwoman, Appropriations Committee

U.S. Senate

Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Harold Rogers

Chairman, Appropriations Committee

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Nita Lowey

Ranking Member, Appropriations Committee

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Senator/Representative: The undersigned health care, public health, scientific organizations and research universities representing over 1 million members across the country urge you to end the dramatic chilling effect of the current rider language restricting gun violence research and to fund this critical work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 1996, Congress passed the so-called Dickey amendment as a rider to the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education Appropriations bill. The language stated that the CDC could not fund research that would “advocate or promote gun control,” and the language has remained in each subsequent annual funding bill. At the same time, Congress cut CDC funding for this research. Although the Dickey amendment does not explicitly prevent research on gun violence, the combination of these two actions has caused a dramatic chilling effect on federal research that has stalled and stymied progress on gathering critical data to inform prevention of gun violence for the past 20 years. Furthermore, it has discouraged the next generation of researchers from entering the field. Gun violence is a serious public health epidemic resulting in the senseless deaths of an average of 91 Americans, and another 108 gun injuries, each and every day. A central part of preventing future tragedies is through conducting rigorous scientific research as this has been a proven successful approach in reducing deaths due to other injuries. Health care providers and public health professionals are overwhelmed in emergency departments, clinics, offices, and communities with the victims of mass shootings, homicides, suicides, accidental shootings, and firearm injuries. Medical professionals and our communities work to address the devastating and long-lasting physical and emotional effects of gun violence on victims, their families and their friends, but are hampered by the insufficient body of evidence-based research to use to point communities toward proven gun violence prevention programs and policies. Former Representative Jay Dickey (R-AR), author of the current language that has effectively restricted gun violence research, recently noted that, “it is my position that somehow or someway we should slowly but methodically fund [gun] research until a solution is reached. Doing nothing is no longer an acceptable solution.” Here are some of the critical questions that enhanced research would help us answer: 1) What is the best way to protect toddlers from accidentally firing a firearm? Safe firearm storage works, but what kinds of campaigns best encourage safe storage? What safe storage methods are the most effective and most likely to be adopted? What should be the trigger pull on a firearm so a toddler can’t use it? 2) What are the most effective ways to prevent gun-related suicides? Two-thirds of firearm related deaths are suicides. Are firearm suicides more spontaneous than non-firearm suicides? Do other risk factors vary by method? How do we prevent it in different populations—active military, veterans, those with mental illness, law enforcement or correctional officers, the elderly, or teenagers? 3) What is the impact of the variety of state policies being enacted? How are different policies around safe storage, mental health, public education, and background checks impacting firearm injuries and deaths? The CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control is an important part of answering these types of questions. Public health uniquely brings together a comprehensive approach connecting the complex factors that result in violence and injuries including clinical, social, criminal, mental health, and environmental factors. The impact of federal public health research in reducing deaths from car accidents, smoking and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome has been well proven. Decades ago, we did not know infant car seats should be rear-facing. Robust research on car accidents and subsequent legislation has helped save hundreds of thousands of lives without preventing people from being able to drive. It’s time to apply the same approach to reducing gun violence in our communities. As professionals dedicated to the health of the nation and to the application of sound science to improving the lives of our fellow Americans, we urge you to take action this year. Americans deserve to know that we are working with the best tools and information in the fight to reduce gun violence deaths and injuries. As Congress works to craft the FY 2017 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill, we urge you to provide the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with funding for research into the causes and prevention of gun violence. Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to working with you to improve health and protect the safety of all Americans. Sincerely, Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine & Health

Academic Pediatric Association

Alameda Health System Department of Emergency Medicine

American Academy of Family Physicians

American Academy of Pediatrics

American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy

American Association of Nurse Practitioners

American College of Emergency Physicians

American College of Emergency Physicians, California Chapter

American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

American College of Physicians

American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

American Educational Research Association

American Geriatrics Society

American Medical Association

American Medical Student Association

American Medical Women’s Association

American Pediatric Society

American Psychiatric Association

American Psychological Association

American Public Health Association

American Society for Clinical Pathology

American Society of Hematology

American Thoracic Society

American Trauma Society

Arkansas Public Health Association

Asociación de Salud Pública de Puerto Rico

Association for Psychological Science

Association of American Universities

Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs

Association of Population Centers

Association of Public and Land-grant Universities

Big Cities Health Coalition

Boulder County Public Health

Brigham Psychiatric Specialties

California Center for Public Health Advocacy

California Public Health Association-North

Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists

Central Oregon Medical Society

Champaign-Urbana Public Health District

Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis

Chicago chapter Physicians for Social Responsibility

Colorado Public Health Association

Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Healthcare

Congregation Gates of Heaven

Consortium of Social Science Associations

Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists

Cure Violence

Delaware Academy of Medicine / Delaware Public Health Association

Doctors Council SEIU

Doctors for America

Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma

Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Inc.

Futures Without Violence

Georgia Public Health Association

Hawaii Public Health Association

Health Officers Association of California

Houston Health Department

Illinois Public Health Association

International Society for Developmental Psychobiology

Iowa Chapter Physicians for Social Responsibility

Iowa Public Health Association

JPS Health Network

Kansas Public Health Association

Koop Institute

KU Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health

Law and Society Association

Lee County Health Department

Local Public Health Association of Minnesota

Louisiana Center for Health Equity

Maine Public Health Association

Maryland Academy of Family Physicians

Minnesota Public Health Association

Montana Public Health Association

National AHEC Organization

National Association of County and City Health Officials

National Association of Medical Examiners

National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health

National Association of Social Workers

National Association of State Emergency Medical Services Officials

National Association of State Head Injury Administrators

National Black Nurses Association

National Hispanic Medical Association

National Medical Association

National Network of Public Health Institutes

National Physicians Alliance

National Violence Prevention Network

Nevada Public Health Association

New Hampshire Public Health Association

New Mexico Public Health Association

North Carolina Public Health Association

Ohio Public Health Association

Ohio Public Health Association

Oregon Academy of Family Physicians

Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility

Oregon Public Health Association

Pediatric Policy Council

Physicians for Social Responsibility, Arizona Chapter

Physicians for a National Health Program NY Metro Chapter

Physicians for Reproductive Health

Physicians for Social Responsibility / Northeast Ohio

Physicians for Social Responsibility Wisconsin

Physicians for Social Responsibility, Arizona Chapter

Physicians for Social Responsibility/New York

Physicians for the Prevention of Gun Violence

Population Association of America

Prevention Institute

Psychonomic Society

Public Health Association of Nebraska

Public Health Association of New York City

Public Health Institute

Research!America

RiverStone Health

Safe States Alliance

San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, Physicians for Social Responsibility

Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine

Society for Advancement of Violence and Injury Research

Society for Mathematical Psychology

Society for Pediatric Research

Society for Psychophysiological Research

Society for Public Health Education

Society of Experimental Social Psychology

Society of General Internal Medicine

Southern California Public Health Association

Southwest Ohio Society of Family Medicine

Student National Medical Association

Suicide Awareness Voices of Education

Texas Doctors for Social Responsibility

Texas Public Health Association

Trauma Foundation

Tri-County Health Department

Trust for America’s Health

United Physicians of Newtown

Vermont Public Health Association

Virginia Public Health Association

Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics

Washington State Public Health Association

Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo

Whiteside County Health Department cc:

The Honorable Mitch McConnell

The Honorable Paul Ryan

The Honorable Harry Reid

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi

Members of Congress

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