WASHINGTON >> U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello, R-6th Dist., joined with two Democratic colleagues Wednesday in a call to end the federal government’s effective ban on researching gun violence as a public health crisis.
The press call was arranged by the center founded by former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who survived being shot at a public event in 2011.
It focused on something called the “Dickey Amendment,” attached to every government funding bill since 1996, which reads “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.”
Named after former U.S. Rep. Jay Dickey of Arkansas, the amendment was created “in response to a 1993 research study funded by the Center for Injury Prevention and Control, a department within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found having a gun at home increases the risk of both homicide and suicide,” according to the Giffords organization.
That language has had a “chilling effect” on national gun research, which has since fallen by 96 percent, said Mike McLively, director of Giffords Law Center’s Urban Gun Violence Initiative.
By way of example, he said because of that language, the federal government has funded 80 research projects on rabies, compared to only three on gun violence, which killed more than 30,000 people in 2016.
Although there is some argument about whether the interpretation of the Dickey Amendment language is the cause of the gun research drought – Dickey himself has since said he regrets the amendment may have been used to stifle research – Costello said during Wednesday afternoon’s conference call that the legislation sponsored by U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, Democrat of Illinois, would “do away with any competing interpretations once and for all.”
Kelly’s bill was raised Wednesday at the White House during a televised meeting between President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress from both parties, said U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, Democrat of Florida, who was at the meeting as well as on the press call.
Murphy said both Trump and Pence seemed interested in the idea of more research, adding Trump “seems open to a lot of ideas” on the issue of gun violence.
According to a report in The New York Times early Wednesday evening, at the White House meeting, Trump called “for comprehensive gun control that would expand background checks, keep guns from the mentally ill, secure schools and restrict gun sales from some young adults.”
For his part, Costello said his support for the bill comes from “the perspective of someone who doesn’t want this to be politicized.”
He said “everyone agrees there are some cultural concerns related to technology. There is violence in movies, in video games and the celebrity attached to mass murderers. Six-and seven-year-olds are being exposed to images of violence like I never was when I was that age and most agree it can lead to a deadening, a de-sensitizing to gun violence,” Costello said.
“We’ve always had mental health issues to deal with in this country, but what else is going on now to cause a person with mental health problems to turn to a mass shooting as a way of getting their aggression out?” Costello asked.
Removing any question about whether the Dickey Amendment impedes federal research on the issue “would free the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to look wherever they think we should be looking about how mental health can be a factor in gun violence,” he said.
“Allowing the CDC the ability to engage in this kind of expert study is extremely important and is more than bipartisan, it’s non-partisan,” said Costello.
Paul Chung, a Los Angeles pediatrician and member of American Academy of Pediatrics and Chair of its Pediatric Policy Council, agreed.
“Gun violence is a threat to children’s health and like any other threat to children’s health, it calls for scientific research,” Chung said.
Gun violence kills seven children per day, he said.
“We’ve done research on car accidents which has saved thousands of lives without preventing people from being able to drive,” said Chung. “We need research on the best ways to prevent toddlers from accidentally shooting guns, to prevent gun-related suicides and school shootings.”
