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Let researchers study gun violence
Everyone seems to agree that we need to do something to stop mass shootings, particularly those like the one at Parkland High School that killed 17 people. But no one seems to agree on what the best solution is.
It could help the debate tremendously if we had better empirical information about gun violence. But studies on the subject are rare because the federal government is actively discouraging them.
In 1996, Congress passed the so-called "Dickey Amendment," named after Rep. Jay Dickey, R-Ark. It bars the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from funding research that "may be used to advocate or promote" gun control. A similar change in 2012 restricts the National Institutes of Health.
Groups like the National Rifle Association say these rules are necessary to prevent gun control supporters from pushing biased research with taxpayer money. But the Dickey Amendment's broad wording has done far more than that — it has all but banned federally funded research into guns and has discouraged even private-sector research.
According to a review by the Journal of the American Medical Association, gun violence is one of the least-studied major causes of death in America. The topic receives about 0.7 percent of the research funds that go to sepsis, which kills roughly as many people.
Delaware in particular knows that gun violence research can be useful — and that it doesn't have to end in partisan bickering over gun control.
In 2014, the CDC commenced a first-of-its-kind study of gun violence in Wilmington, treating it as a public health issue. The study diagnosed many root causes of violence, like poverty, unemployment, hunger and child abuse. It recommended the creation of a central data system that would help state officials notice these warning signs and intervene before things turn violent.
State officials are still wading through the many legal issues involved in creating such a system, but it's a promising and innovative solution. And the study didn't get snarled in the difficult politics of gun control.
Congress should lift anti-research laws and free scientists to investigate gun violence as thoroughly as they do other leading causes of death. It's time to stop debating in the dark.
Material from USAToday was used in this editorial.
The News Journal's editorial opinions are decided by its editorial board, which is separate from the news staff.