Lawmakers
join gun violence advocates in front of the Capitol Wednesday to demand
Congress take additional action to stem epidemic of gun violence
Washington (March 29, 2023) – As the nation reels from yet another tragic school shooting this week, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Representatives Elissa Slotkin (MI-07), Mark Takano (CA-39) and Marilyn Strickland (WA-10) today reintroduced legislation that would fund research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to better understand and address the nation’s ongoing gun violence epidemic, a public health crisis which in the past five years has taken the lives of more than 180,000 people across the United States. Specifically, the Gun Violence Prevention Research Act would authorize $50 million each fiscal year over the next five years to boost the CDC’s firearms safety and gun violence prevention research – building upon already successful efforts to secure a total of $100 million for federal gun violence prevention research between fiscal years 2020 and 2023. Currently, the CDC is supporting more than 20 individual research projects dedicated to the study of gun violence prevention – including research on understanding the unique harms posed to young people, mitigating gun violence in highest-risk communities, and stopping firearm suicides among military service members and veterans, and more.
“I am outraged and horrified by the massacre in Nashville, which took the lives
of three innocent children. We cannot keep living this way, and our children
cannot keep dying this way,” said Senator Markey. “From our
streets to our schools, it’s clear that Congress hasn’t yet done what it’s
going to take to end this fatal crisis. Stopping the spread of our nation’s gun
violence epidemic will require acting on the reforms we already know are
essential, like an immediate assault weapons ban, while we simultaneously
invest more to study the root causes of violence and develop evidence-based
solutions. My legislation would bolster gun violence prevention research with
the help of our nation’s top medical, scientific, and public health
researchers, so that we can chart a path out of this public health crisis and
save lives.”
“Gun violence is now the leading cause of death among American children, and in
Oxford and at MSU, I’ve seen the long-term pain and trauma these tragedies
inflict on entire communities,” said Representative Slotkin. “So
have Dylan and Devin – the Oxford and MSU students joining us today who have
survived both. We, as a society, need to step up and decide to protect our kids
so that an entire generation of young Americans isn’t defined by gun violence.
The bills I’m introducing today, including one that was written based on the
circumstances of the shooting at MSU – are a step towards addressing this
epidemic. Preventing more gun violence in our schools and on our streets is a
matter of homeland security – not politics. These bills take concrete actions
to make it harder for people to commit acts of violence with a gun. As elected
officials, our most basic responsibility is to protect our children from the
things that are truly harming them, and this package of legislation will help
us save lives by addressing some of the root causes of the gun violence
epidemic.”
“As our nation reels in the wake of another devastating shooting in Nashville
just this week, we are reminded once more that action is needed to curb gun
violence and save lives,” said Representative Takano. “The
unfortunate reality is that no individual, no community, and no neighborhood is
immune from the threat of gun violence. As a country, we must seek to
understand why this violence is rampant, and further research why America is
uniquely experiencing a crisis of this magnitude. It is high time we start
combating this epidemic with effective and evidence-based solutions as a part
of a holistic approach, which is why I’m introducing the Gun Violence
Prevention Research Act.”
“Make no mistake: gun violence is preventable. Republicans actively choose to
watch children, mothers, fathers, and Americans gunned down in deference to the
gun lobby,” said Representative Strickland. “We must root out
the gun violence crisis in our nation. This legislation will simply treat gun
violence as the public health crisis it is and allow us to research it so we
can take steps toward saving lives.”
A copy of the legislation can be found HERE.
The Gun Violence Prevention Research Act is endorsed by Brady,
Everytown, March For Our Lives, Stop Handgun Violence, States United to Prevent
Gun Violence, and Giffords.
“Gun violence traumatizes communities everyday in every state across our
nation, with communities of color affected disproportionately,” said
Sonya Coleman, Board Chair of States United to Prevent Gun Violence. “SUPGV
and our 31 grassroots state organizations work to ensure change happens.
Research on firearms safety and gun violence prevention is vital to advance
effective legislation that will reduce gun deaths and injuries.”
"As we continue to experience record-high levels of gun violence in
America, it is increasingly important to improve our understanding of gun
incidents, identify the sources of firearms, and evaluate gun storage methods.
This can only be done if the CDC is given adequate and sustained funding to
conduct thorough, evidence-based research on this issue. Brady is grateful to
Senator Markey, Representative Slotkin, and Representative Takano for
championing data-driven solutions to this uniquely American
problem," said Kris Brown, President of Brady.
“With gun violence claiming the lives of more than 48,000 Americans in 2021, it
is critical that Congress invest in researching the causes and solutions to
this devastating public health crisis. Deaths due to gun violence far outpace
deaths due to other epidemics that have garnered substantial attention from the
public health community. Throughout history, the most effective response to
public health and safety problems has coupled comprehensive research efforts
with policy reforms focused on identifying and mitigating risk. We thank
Senator Markey and Representative Slotkin for introducing the Gun
Violence Prevention Research Act to ensure that there is adequate funding
for research into gun violence,” said Adzi Vokhiwa, Federal Affairs
Director at Giffords.
“Gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children and young people
in America,” said Trevon Bosley, Board Member at March For Our
Lives. “We deserve to live and thrive in communities free from such
devastation. The Gun Violence Prevention Research Act is a
step forward in reimagining public safety and studying the root causes of gun
violence so we can work together to develop evidence-based solutions. I thank
Senator Markey and Representative Slotkin for their leadership and hope
legislators pass this meaningful legislation to save lives.”
Senate cosponsors include Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Catherine Cortez
Masto (D-Nev.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.),
Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Tom Carper
(D-Del.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Jack Reed
(D-R.I.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Sheldon
Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Amy Klobuchar
(D-Minn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Bernie Sanders
(I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Kirsten
Gilibrand (D-N.Y.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), and Chris
Coons (D-Del.).
The “Dickey Amendment,” a rider to the 1996 omnibus appropriations bill, barred
the CDC from conducting gun violence prevention research for two decades.
Beginning in fiscal year 2020, Senator Markey and his colleague
then-Representative Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12) were able to secure new funding
for gun violence prevention research at the CDC through appropriations packages
for fiscal years 2020, 2021, 2022,
and 2023.
That effort followed their leadership in introducing the Gun
Violence Prevention Research Act in the 116th and the 117th
sessions of Congress.
In May 2022, Senator Markey led
his Senate colleagues in a letter to 28 shipping companies expressing
concern over lax shipping security measures leading to firearm theft and making
it easier for criminals to get their hands on lethal firearms. Also, during that
month, Senator Markey led
ten of his Senate colleagues in a letter to the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) urging the agency to open an investigation into the marketing
of lethal firearms, including assault-style rifles, to children. In 2021,
Senator Markey reintroduced the Making
America Safe and Secure (MASS) Act, legislation that would incentivize
states to adopt gun-licensing standards similar to those proven effective in
Massachusetts, a state with one of the lowest gun death rates in the nation.
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