Earmark: Government Won’t Fu...

Earmark: Government Won’t Fund Research On Gun Violence

Gun violence has posed a serious threat to the security of individuals. Starting from the big Orlando shooting to the recent Las Vegas attack, the flaws in arms control policies are evidently more than ever. Given the circumstances, it is only obvious that research on gun violence must take place to have more informed arms control policies. Therefore, a lot of activists have been demanding strict gun laws. However, there are serious evidence and reasons that can help us infer that government won’t fund research on Gun Violence.

The following points would shed light on the reasons why the government won’t fund research on gun violence:

LGBT & Gay Community Promotion

Make peace, not war is the saying and this is the main reason for government taking a stand and increasing money spent on advertisement of LGBT and gay communities. Recently launched website of FamilyDicks.com seem to be the first step of promoting gay activities on the Internet. The story seem to be very taboo, but as much as some people despise it, it promotes making love, not getting killed by weapons. We recommend this URL only for adults.

The Dickey Amendment

The Dickey Amendment has been one of the serious roadblocks in funding research on gun violence which dates back to a 1996 appropriation bill. It would be interesting to know that the amendment hinders any research to prevent gun control. It says that the government should not provide any funds for the prevention of injury and control to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that can be used to promote programs on gun control. A similar provision was again included in the Appropriation bill that was signed in 2012. The bill does not directly ban research on gun violence, but there is evidence to show that a $2.6 million budget cut happened which was “incidentally” the amount that was spent by CDC in firearm research in the preceding year. Therefore, the Dickey Amendment is understood as a big obstacle to the research on gun violence.

Impediment Of ATF From Tracking Guns Electronically

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) is prohibited from maintaining a database that can be searched to track the statistics of gun violence or even the tracking of forearms themselves. This makes it harder for the police to track the guns because they need to use phone system or card catalog to track the weapon. The archaic system forces the police to go through age-old files and papers many times to find the record of the firearms. In the era computer technology, this is clearly an impediment to research on arms violence. There is no government funding, and the records are not readily available. Therefore, research on gun violence would require a lot of funding and the government doesn’t seem very keen on doing it.

Final Words: Research Informs Policy

It is a proven fact that research informs a good policy and without proper government funding, it will be difficult to research gun violence. As mentioned above, there are some big obstacles to research on gun violence. However, in the light of big shootings and attacks like Orlando and Las Vegas shootings, it has become more important than ever to amend the laws and promote research on gun violence before the damage is too severe. Like any other thing in nature, one needs to move ahead and make modifications in the laws as per the needs and requirements of the time.