Thank you for taking the time to contact me about gun violence research and the Dickey Amendment. I appreciate hearing from you about these issues.
The Dickey Amendment is a provision first inserted into the 1996 federal government spending bill by former Representative Jay Dickey. This amendment mandated that "none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may be used to advocate or promote gun control." For years, the vague language of the Dickey Amendment discouraged the CDC from funding research related to gun violence in an effort to prevent fiscal penalties.
Multiple-casualty shootings are devastating families and ravaging neighborhoods on an almost daily basis around this country. Gun violence in the United States has reached extreme levels, with approximately 40,000 Americans killed by firearms every year. Additionally, there are over 67,000 non-fatal gun assaults each year. We have witnessed some of the deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history at Sandy Hook, Charleston, Orlando, Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, Parkland, Thousand Oaks, Santa Fe, Gilroy, El Paso, Dayton, and even our own Commonwealth. On the morning of Saturday, October 27, 2018, we witnessed the most deadly act of violence against the Jewish community in American history. Eleven congregants were taken from their families and six other individuals were wounded, including four police officers who responded to the scene. The suspect was armed with three handguns and one AR-15 assault rifle.
These acts of violence strike at the heart of our Nation, and it is up to public officials to take action. We cannot simply offer thoughts and prayers while lives are lost and families and communities are torn apart. As a public official, I believe my colleagues and I have an obligation to enact commonsense reforms that will keep Americans safe and reduce the likelihood of gun violence incidents.
For years, I have advocated strongly for the repeal of the Dickey Amendment and increased funding for the CDC to conduct research specifically related to our Nation's gun violence epidemic. For example, I am an original cosponsor of the Gun Violence Prevention Research Act, which would authorize an additional $50 million for the CDC to study gun violence, just as they would study any other public health hazard.
Fortunately, in 2018, Congress passed a new spending bill that clarified that the Dickey Amendment did not prohibit the CDC from conducting research related to gun violence prevention. Then, in December 2019, Congress passed another spending deal that included $25 million for the CDC and the National Institutes of Health to fund research on gun violence for the first time in two decades. I was proud to vote in favor of both of these measures and was pleased that the President signed them into law. I am hopeful that this research will help us better understand the problem of gun violence and how to address it.
As we pray for the families and victims of mass shootings, and as families across the country mourn their daughters, sons, parents and siblings whose lives are lost to the daily gun violence in our communities, we must again commit ourselves to action. I refuse to accept that the best our Nation can do is simply enforce our current laws. It is not working. Too many families are devastated by gun violence, and too many others live in fear for their safety. We are a Nation of people who come together, roll up our sleeves and solve difficult problems. We can pass smart measures to reduce gun violence while fully respecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. This problem is not going away, so we need to come together now. I will keep fighting to make our communities safe from gun violence.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about this or any other matter of importance to you.
For more information on this or other issues, I encourage you to visit my website, http://casey.senate.gov. I hope you will find this online office a comprehensive resource to stay up-to-date on my work in Washington, request assistance from my office or share with me your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you and to Pennsylvania.
Sincerely,
Bob Casey
United States Senator
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