Senate Dems ask CDC for progress of gun violence study

Senate Democrats are asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) how research is coming on gun violence.

Democratic Sens. Ed Markey (Mass.), Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Brian Schatz (Hawaii) sent a letter to CDC Director Tom Frieden on Friday asking for a progress report on the current state of research at the agency on the causes and prevention of gun violence.

{mosads}“Gun violence kills or injures more than 10,000 children a year. It kills more than 30,000 people each year. It destroys families and damages communities. It is a public health crisis in every sense of the word, and it is critical that we treat it is as such,” the senators wrote.

Last year, President Obama asked the CDC to research gun violence after the shooting in Newtown, Conn., where 20 first-graders were killed. Lawmakers asked the CDC if they have a budget and timeline for conducting studies on guns.

“Part of these efforts must include serious substantive research into the problem of gun violence in order to better craft additional strategies with which to combat it,” the letter stated. “Unfortunately, there have been no clear signs that the CDC is beginning to implement this agenda.”

Markey has also called for legislation that would provide the CDC with $10 million a year for six years in order to conduct more research on gun violence prevention and firearms safety.