Lawmakers raise questions about discontinued NIH funding for gun violence research

Questions were raised by members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday about reports that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) discontinued funding for research on gun violence under the Trump Administration.

In a letter to NIH Director Francis Collins, U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Bobby Rush (D-IL) highlighted the importance of public health solutions to gun violence in the country.

“We write to express concern about recent press reports that the National Institutes of Health has discontinued the dedicated funding program for gun violence research,” the letter stated. “Gun violence is an urgent public health crisis facing communities across the country. It continues to present a hazard for public health and safety and resulted in the deaths of nearly 34,000 Americans in 2015.”

Despite the prevalence of gun violence, the lawmakers continued, the number of research studies on the issue has been disproportionately low due to the Dicky Amendment, which prohibited the use of federal funds to “advocate or promote gun control” in the 1990s.

“This funding was critical because the difficulty in obtaining federal research funding has limited the number of current researchers and the development of the next generation of researchers focused on gun violence prevention,” the letter stated. “In fact, many graduate and professional students have avoided pursuing research into this subject due to how the lack of available funding for gun violence research affects their career prospects.”

Pallone and Rush specifically asked Collins if the NIH had discontinued the gun research program, how many gun violence research grants in the three previous fiscal years, and how many gun violence research grants were supported because the NIH established a dedicated funding stream.