Gun violence has become a serious threat to the security of individuals in the United States. From the big Orlando shooting to the recent Las Vegas attack, the flaws in arms-control policy are more evident than ever. Given the circumstances, it seems only obvious that research on gun violence should take place, so that arms-control policies can be better informed. And indeed, plenty of activists have been demanding stricter gun laws. Yet there is serious evidence — and there are serious reasons — explaining why, for decades, the government would not fund research on gun violence.
The following points shed light on why.
Roadblock one: the Dickey Amendment
The Dickey Amendment has been one of the most serious roadblocks to funding research on gun violence, dating back to a 1996 appropriations bill. Strikingly, the amendment hinders precisely the research that could prevent gun violence: it says the government should provide no injury-prevention-and-control funds to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that could be used to promote gun-control programs. A similar provision was included again in the appropriations bill signed in 2012.
The bill does not directly ban research on gun violence. But the evidence shows a $2.6 million budget cut — “incidentally” the exact amount the CDC had spent on firearm research the year before.
That is why the Dickey Amendment was long understood as the single biggest obstacle standing between federal money and gun-violence research.
Roadblock two: the ATF can’t track guns electronically
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is prohibited from maintaining a searchable database that could track gun-violence statistics — or even track the firearms themselves. The prohibition makes it far harder for police to trace a weapon: they must fall back on a phone system or a card catalog.
The archaic system forces the police to dig through age-old files and papers, often several times over, just to find the record of a single firearm. In the era of computer technology this is plainly an impediment to research on gun violence. For decades there was no dedicated government funding, and the records are still not readily available — so any serious research effort requires substantial money, which the government long seemed unwilling to provide.
Final words: research informs policy
It is a proven fact that research informs good policy — and without proper, sustained government funding, researching gun violence is difficult. As shown above, the obstacles are large and structural. But in the light of mass shootings like Orlando and Las Vegas, it has become more important than ever to amend the laws and promote research on gun violence before the damage grows too severe. Like everything else in nature, the law needs to move forward — modified to meet the needs and requirements of its time.
Where the Dickey Amendment stands now
In March 2018, Congress issued clarifying report language stating that the CDC may conduct research into the causes of gun violence — the Dickey Amendment itself remained on the books. In late 2019, Congress went further and appropriated $25 million for gun-violence research, split between the CDC and the NIH: the first dedicated federal funding in over two decades.