[Neighbors] The AMA calls for enabling research into gun violence

[Zachary Benz via Neighbors_nobhill-nm]

Pat, Neighbors,

I can appreciate that there are many opinions out there on gun rights and on the causes of gun violence.  It would seem to me that the American Medical Association's call for allowing government researchers to be allowed to study the causes of gun violence is highly sensible, and could be supported by many across the political spectrum. Currently the federal government is forbidden from funding research into gun violence, leaving us all to lean on anecdote and our own necessarily limited individual experiences rather than shared deep insight. 

The AMA put out the following statement today:

"With approximately 30,000 men, women and children dying each year at the barrel of a gun in elementary schools, movie theaters, workplaces, houses of worship and on live television, the United States faces a public health crisis of gun violence. Even as America faces a crisis unrivaled in any other developed country, the Congress prohibits the CDC from conducting the very research that would help us understand the problems associated with gun violence and determine how to reduce the high rate of firearm-related deaths and injuries. An epidemiological analysis of gun violence is vital so physicians and other health providers, law enforcement, and society at large may be able to prevent injury, death and other harms to society resulting from firearms."

Best regards,
Zach