As the nation continues to reel from the aftermath of the Orlando shooting massacre, researchers are making appeals anew for Congress to lift restrictions that prohibit two health-oriented federal agencies from studying gun violence.
“There seems to be no compromise philosophically between political factions on the issue of gun safety, so it seems that the only hope for resolution is to turn to objective findings from scientific research,” said Dewey Cornell, professor of education at the University of Virginia and director of the Virginia Youth Violence Project.
“However, the U.S. Congress has taken an anti-science position when it comes to research on gun safety,” Cornell said. “It is as if the Congress does not want to know whether there are policies that could reduce gun violence.”
Cornell made his remarks this week in response to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando that left 50 dead—including the shooter, Omar Mateen, who reportedly pledged his allegiance to ISIS during the attack—and dozens more wounded.
His voice is among a growing chorus of calls for Congress to lift the ban, including from the American Educational Research Association, which also called on Congress to lift restrictions that prohibit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other Department of Health and Human Services agencies from conducting gun violence research.
“These restrictions have stymied the development and implementation of evidence-based policies and programs that foster gun safety,” AERA executive director Felice J. Levine said.
“AERA has pressed this point before, in statements on the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School; in Charleston, S.C.; and at Umpqua Community College,” Levine said. “It is incumbent on all of us to turn our attention to taking real action to solve this ongoing national crisis rather than merely episodically expressing our concern.”
