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Chicago Appleseed and Chicago Council of Lawyers have joined a letter urging Congress to formally repeal the Dickey Amendment that currently creates an effective ban on federal health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) from conducting research into the causes, effects, and evidence-based prevention of gun violence in our communities.  We are proud to stand with organizations like Families USA, the ACLU, the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, and the Community Renewal Society in this call for action.

Chicago Appleseed advocates for court reform aimed at improving access to justice. We adopt positions and propose solutions based up upon evidence-based best practices research. We look across disciplines to find innovations in court services and social services to ensure our courts are effective and fair. Our criminal justice work partners our staff with community organizations and government agencies to reduce incarceration rates and promote criminal justice policies that strengthen communities. Our domestic relations work engages with the whole family and seeks to create non-adversarial processes to improve outcomes for children, parents and the courts.

The insufficient body of evidence-based research surrounding gun violence prevention programs and policies hinders development of criminal court programs and domestic violence policies. An absence of data regarding gun access, crime rates, suicides and other injuries leave us no means of testing the efficacy of programs and policies.

Research is the foundation of good government and reliable courts. Chicago Appleseed and Chicago Council of Lawyers urge Congress to promote study of the causes and effects of gun violence and gun accidents in our communities in order to devise effective programs against harm.

The text of the letter follows. A copy of the letter, with footnotes and signatories, can be downloaded here.

March 22, 2018

Dear Leader McConnell, Leader Schumer, Speaker Ryan, and Leader Pelosi:

Last month, 17 people, including 14 students, were killed in a mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Sadly, this is not at all a new problem for our nation. Since 1999, approximately 150,000 students have attended primary or secondary schools with incidents of gun violence. While gun violence in schools is tragic, the underlying problem is much broader. More than 35,000 people, including nearly 3,000 children, die from gun violence each year in the United States. A recent study published in the American Journal of Medicine indicates that in high-income nations, an astounding 91 percent of children younger than 15 who were killed by bullets lived in the United States. Additionally, the presence of a gun during a domestic violence incident makes it five times more likely that a woman will be killed.

Gun violence knows no barriers. The shooting in Parkland was just the latest in a surge of mass shootings in places as diverse as a country music concert in Las Vegas, a LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, and an African American Church in Charleston, SC. All people can be affected by this violence, but is particularly felt in low-income and racial and ethnic minority communities. African American, Hispanic, and American Indian boys are all significantly more likely than are white children to be killed by gun violence. While the numbers are staggering, there is far too little data about the causes, effects, and prevention of gun violence in the United States. In large part, this due to an effective ban on federally funded research into gun violence. It is past time for that ban to end.

The health care community recognizes gun violence as a severe threat to the health of our nation. The over 170 undersigned organizations represent health care consumers, patients, providers, and other stakeholders. As organizations focused on improving peoples’ health and well-being, many of us have not engaged in the vigorous national debate on gun violence. We are entering that debate today because our nation is at a turning point. Fed up with excuses for why policy makers cannot do anything to stop gun violence, the American people, and the health care community are demanding action.

As health care policy experts and advocates, we know that effective policy relies on rigorous and impartial research. Despite gun violence being a leading cause of death for children, in 1996 Congress forbade any funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that “may be used to advocate or promote gun control.” This provision – known as the “Dickey Amendment”– has effectively
stifled meaningful federal funding for research on the causes and effects gun violence. A recent study found that “in relation to mortality rates, gun violence research was the least-researched cause of death.” Even former-Representative Dickey (R-AR) who led the effort to ban this research has reversed his position because “doing nothing is no longer an acceptable solution.”

Across the country, students are rallying to urge policy makers to take action against gun violence. They are asking adults to enact policies to stem the rising tide of gun violence against children. There are many policies that Congress should enact to protect young people and all Americans against violence,
and the health care community is united in calling for the end of one of these policy that is clearly indefensible. We urge Congress to act swiftly to repeal the Dickey Amendment and fund research into the causes, effects, and evidence-based prevention of gun violence in our communities.