Twice as much federal money was being spent on hernias and ulcers, which aren’t usually fatal, as on gun violence, which took nearly 40,000 lives a year, according to a 2018 accounting. The answer was political.
A 1996 measure pushed by the National Rifle Association had effectively banned the use of taxpayer money for research into anything that could be seen as supportive of gun control. After mass shootings in Charleston, South Carolina; Orlando, Florida; and Las Vegas, Democrats in Congress tried to repeal the de facto ban, and each time it was blocked by Republicans.
Finally, in 2019, there was a breakthrough. In the aftermath of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Congress struck a bipartisan deal to begin allocating $25 million each year to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for gun violence research. The surge of federal dollars was cheered by scientists, who quickly began applying for funding and making up for lost time.
September marked four years since most of the first projects received grants. The Trace analyzed federal data to see how much funding has been doled out, how that money has been spent, and which institutions are getting the lion’s share. The data includes money awarded by the NIH, the CDC, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, which account for the vast majority of federal gun violence research funding.
We learned that the federally funded studies over the past five years have primarily focused on youth gun violence, firearm suicide prevention, and community violence intervention, including the systemic inequities and disparities that contribute to a higher burden for communities of color.