GUNS: It's a health issue

Your editorial on Jan. 10, 2016, on gun violence stated that this is the 20th anniversary of a Congressional ban on funding for the U.S. Public Health Service, (USPHS), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), National Institute of Health (NIH), to continue research on gun violence, yet gun violence is estimated to kill 30,000 people a year and cause 60,000 medical injuries a year.

Many, including myself, believe that because gun violence is so complex and deeply rooted in our culture we should continue to take a comprehensive public health approach to find answers in attempting to keep our communities safe. To do this we need to have Congress pass a line item budget that will fund CDC and NIH for continued gun inquiry and violence research.

As suggested in your editorial, we simply do not have hard statistical data to support any meaningful type of legislation at this time. For example, what kinds of guns are being used in group killings, why and how do guns fall into the hands of the wrong people, and why is so much gun violence attributed to the mentally ill?

Additionally, what does it cost our country to deal with the devastating and long lasting emotional effects of gun violence on victims and their families, not to mention the cost of medical care? These are just a few of the questions that should be researched. Answers will come with evidence based research which is not bogged down in partisan political ideology.

The CDC was beginning to conduct this type of research until the 1996 budget withdrawal, when gun advocacy groups accused CDC of promoting gun control. Following the Sandy Hook School shooting, President Obama reversed the research ban by executive order, but research remained unfunded. The recently released omnibus, a must passed bill to keep the government funded, contained a rider on the bill continuing the ban on CDC, NIH gun research funding. We should hold our law makers accountable for not continuing gun violence research. The attitude that doing nothing because it will never change anyhow, is not acceptable.

RICHARD L. VARNER

Post Falls