Several doctors groups are calling on Congress and President Trump to take measures against gun violence that include restricting access to firearms that have “features designed to increase their rapid and extended killing capacity.”
The groups’ list of other requests includes labeling gun violence “a national public health epidemic” and including a line item in the omnibus spending bill allowing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research gun violence.
“The families of the victims in Parkland and all those whose lives have been impacted by daily acts of gun violence deserve more than our thoughts and prayers,” they wrote of the mass shooting at a Florida high school Wednesday. “They need action from the highest levels of our government to stop this epidemic of gun violence now.”
The groups wrote that mass shootings bring attention to gun violence but said that they see patients affected by suicides, homicides, and injuries tied to guns.
Funding for the CDC research has not been attached to spending packages in recent years, and federal law prohibits tax dollars from going toward advocating or promoting gun control. Former Rep. Jay Dickey, R-Ark., the measure’s author who died in 2017, said the language was often misinterpreted as a ban on gun violence research. Those who want to change it say it has gotten in the way of finding solutions.
The CDC’s public health studies tend to be accompanied with recommendations, and the NRA previously has accused the agency of stepping into advocating for gun control. Following the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., the Obama administration funded $11.1 million in grants on gun violence through the National Institutes of Health.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar signaled Thursday that he would be open to having the CDC carry out research on the causes and prevention of gun violence.
“We believe we’ve got a very important mission with our work with serious mental illness, as well as our ability to do research on the causes of violence and the causes behind tragedies like this, so that is a priority for us especially at the Centers for Disease Control,” he told House Democrats.
The Trump administration has said that its response to the mass shooting will to to focus on addressing untreated serious mental illness. Nikolas Cruz, 19, who admitted to the crimes, used a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle, to carry out his attack. He had been expelled from the school because of behavioral problems and was living with a friend following the death of his mother in November.
The doctors groups did not cite concerns about mental health in their letter to lawmakers and the president. The American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Physicians, and the American Psychiatric Association all signed on to the requests. Together, the groups represent about 450,000 healthcare workers and medical students.
The FBI has acknowledged that law enforcement officials received a tip that Cruz should be suspected of potentially carrying out a school shooting but did not follow existing protocol in addressing the threat.
Cruz had posted comments about school shootings on YouTube, and several students described him as a “loner” or “troubled kid,” though it is not clear how well they knew him. Investigations of mass shootings can continue for months before final determinations are made by medical experts and law enforcement.
