On Thursday, California lawmakers designated $5 million to fund the “California Firearm Violence Research Center.”

A push for such a center at the federal level has failed during Obama’s presidency, and California is the first state to allocate such funds to researching guns.

According to Wired.com, Dr. Michael Siegel, a member of the Violence Prevention Research Unit at Boston University, condemns congressional refusal to provide the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with more funding for “gun violence” research. He said, “It’s a disgrace. Gun violence is one of the top public health problems in the nation. If you’re in an urban area and African American, it’s probably the number one public health problem you’re going to face.”

Siegal did not mention that one of the things we know for certain, without another penny being spent on “gun violence” research, is that many African Americans face heightened danger because the urban areas in which they live are in places like Baltimore, Chicago, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, St. Louis, among others. All of these areas are marred by two things: gun control and Democrat governance.

Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research co-director Jon Vernick supports more “gun violence” research, but for other reasons: he believes it is a way to create jobs. Vernick said, “We have to have a conversation with young people about whether or not they can build a career in this area. I’m absolutely confident that we lost a generation of researchers because we haven’t had the money.”

The research center was “spearheaded” by Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis), who said, “The [gun violence] problem is so large and serious that everyone should have a shared policy conversation. Research will help us move in a direction that establishes common ground. This isn’t about whether the Second Amendment is good or not.”

In 2015, Wolk spearheaded the legislative push that repealed campus carry for students with concealed carry licenses, thereby disarming law-abiding citizens on college and university campuses in California.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.