It is a widely believed myth that the US Government is not allowed to perform research on “gun violence,” particularly that the CDC cannot research guns. This myth is repeatedly stated by anti-gun politicians and anti-gun advocates. These anti-gun advocates say things like “The NRA has blocked gun violence research for 20 years. Let’s end its stranglehold on science.” How the anti-gun advocates are able to keep pushing this myth is beyond me, people believing the myth is even more astounding.

The real law about gun studies

“None of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control.” – Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997

Nowhere in that does it say the CDC cannot study firearms. Nowhere does it say the CDC cannot study gun deaths. Nowhere does it say the CDC cannot study gun violence. Nowhere does it say the CDC cannot study violent crime.

The law states the CDC cannot “advocate or promote gun control.” To me, that makes sense. The government cannot advocate or promote something that infringes on a constitutional right. If there was a law that says the CDC cannot “advocate or promote the restriction of free speech” no one would bat an eye. But the anti-gun movement has taken this law and used it to say something completely wrong.

That section of the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997 was put into place because of the following statement from 1989 by the Acting Section Head of Division of Injury Control of the CDC.

“We’re going to systematically build a case that owning firearms causes deaths. We’re doing the most we can do, given the political realities.” – P.W. O’Carroll, Acting Section Head of Division of Injury Control, CDC (source)

And in 1917 the leadership within the CDC had an objective:

“The objective has broadened so that it now includes banning and confiscation of all handguns, restrictive licensing of owners of other firearms, and eventual elimination of firearms from American life, excepting (perhaps) only a small elite of extremely wealthy collectors, hunters, or target shooters.” (source)

To put it bluntly, entities within the CDC had stated they want to remove firearms from American life, except for the “small elite.” Firearms in the hands of the elite is the exact opposite of how America was founded. America was founded because the population used their own blood, sweat, tears, and personal firearms to rebel against the most powerful military at the time.

It is also completely backwards to state a goal and then go seek out data to support that goal. An organization dedicated to studying data needs to observe the data first, and then come to conclusions based on that data. The CDC should not decide to push gun control, and then come up with studies to support that push. The CDC should conduct studies on “gun violence” and then present the findings to the American people.

These efforts from the CDC are why Congress, not the NRA, blocked the CDC from promoting “gun control” – which did not ban the CDC from studying “gun violence.”

The CDC was never banned from studying guns, gun deaths, gun violence, or any other bit of data surrounding guns and violent crime.

The NRA’s actual stance on firearms studies

People use the passage of the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997 to claim the NRA does not want CDC studies conducted on “gun violence” – which is another lie. Here’s an actual statement from the NRA on gun studies.

Let’s be clear, the National Rifle Association is not opposed to research that would encourage the safe and responsible use of firearms and reduce the numbers of firearm-related deaths.” – Chris Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (source)

Examples of US Government gun studies

Despite reading the actual law concerning gun studies and the CDC or the government, some people still claim the government and the CDC can’t study “gun violence” or guns. So let’s further disprove the myth that the government is blocked from studying firearms deaths. Let’s look at a list of some actual studies from the US Government (including the CDC) about guns, gun deaths, “gun violence,” and violent crime. There are quite a few gun related studies over the years by the US government and the CDC.

CDC firearms related studies

FBI firearms related studies

DOJ firearms related studies

Congressional Research firearms related study

Bureau of Justice Statistics firearms related studies

List of the BJS Studies

Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2013-2014

Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2012

Firearm Violence, 1993-2011

Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2010

Firearms Stolen during Household Burglaries and Other Property Crimes, 2005-2010

Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2009

National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS)

Federal Firearms Cases, FY 2008

Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2008

Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2007

Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2006

Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2005

Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, 2005

Federal Law Enforcement Officers, 2004

Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2004

Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, Midyear 2004

Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2003: Trends for the Permanent Brady Period, 1999-2003

Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, Midyear 2003

Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2002

Weapon Use and Violent Crime, 1993-2001

Federal Law Enforcement Officers, 2002

Improving Criminal History Records for Background Checks: National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP)

Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, Midyear 2002

Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, Midyear 2001

Firearm Use by Offenders

Federal Law Enforcement Officers, 2000

Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, Midyear 2000

Firearm Injury and Death from Crime, 1993-97

Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, Midyear 1999

Presale Handgun Checks, the Brady Interim Period, 1994-98

Carjackings in the United States, 1992-96

Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, 1997

Presale Handgun Checks, 1997

Firearm-related Statutes, 1996: Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota

Federal Law Enforcement Officers, 1996

Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales, 1996

Presale Firearm Checks

Domestic Violence in Florida, 1994 and 1995

Weapons Offenses and Offenders–Firearms, Crime, and Criminal Justice: Selected Findings

Guns Used in Crime: Firearms, Crime, and Criminal Justice

Federal Firearms-Related Offenses: Federal Offenses and Offenders

Survey of Criminal History Information Systems, 1993, with Supplementary Information on Presale Firearms Checks, 1994

Survey of Criminal History Information Systems, 1993, With Supplementary Information on Presale Firearm Checks, 1994

Firearms and Crimes of Violence: Selected Findings From National Statistical Series

Violent Crime in the United States

Toy Guns: Involvement in Crime and Encounters with Police

Identifying Persons, Other Than Felons, Ineligible to Purchase Firearms: A Feasibility Study

That isn’t even a comprehensive list of all of the government studies on firearms and firearms related topics, it’s just a sampling of studies.

I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of studies and statistics about firearms directly from the US Government.

The US government can (and does) research firearms

There are a plethora of studies about firearms, “gun violence,” firearm related deaths, and similar topics provided to us from the US Government, including the CDC. Why haven’t these government backed gun studies been mentioned by the anti-gun movement even though they beg for government backed gun studies?

I’m going to guess they don’t like the results of these studies, so they ignore them.