Everytown Applauds Introduction of Legislation to Increase Funding for Gun Violence Research

WASHINGTON – Everytown for Gun Safety and its grassroots networks, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, today released the following statement applauding the introduction of legislation in Congress by Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) that would authorize $50 million per year for six years to conduct or support gun violence research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The pandemic has made America’s gun violence epidemic even deadlier, and research into the causes of gun violence and the life-saving solutions has never been more necessary,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “We’re grateful to Senator Markey and Congresswoman Maloney for leading the charge to fund this critical research.”

This important bill introduction comes on the heels of a historic two years for gun safety research, in which $25 million was appropriated to funding for research in fiscal years 2020 and 2021. The 2020 spending package appropriated the first funding for gun violence research in more than two decades, and the most recent government spending deal was the strongest gun safety appropriations package in history. 

When the CDC began studying gun violence in the early 1990s, the NRA fought aggressively to persuade Congress to block its funding. In 1996, the effort culminated in the so-called Dickey Amendment, which had a chilling effect on gun violence-related research conducted by the CDC until Congress clarified in 2018 that the Dickey amendment would not limit gun violence research. Senator Markey and Rep. Maloney’s bill would create a long term funding stream for this valuable research.