Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is leading an effort by 14 attorneys general to encourage Congress to allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study gun violence as a public health issue.

“Federal restrictions on CDC funding stifle important progress we have made to help mitigate the devastating effects of gun violence on families and communities in Massachusetts and across the country,” Healey said Tuesday at a White House meeting on gun violence. “With this critical tool at our fingertips, we are calling on Congress to take immediate action as millions of lives are affected by this public health crisis every year.”

Since 1996, Congress has included a provision in its annual appropriations bill that bans the CDC from using any money for any study “to advocate or promote gun control.”

Gun rights groups have supported the ban. They contend that characterizing guns as a public health issue is merely an effort to disguise moves to expand gun control.

http://womensvoicesforchange.org/fourteen-attorneys-general-call-for-more-research-on-gun-violence-in-the-news.htm