FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Media Relations
Last Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee approved the Fiscal Year 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act by a vote of 31 to 25. The bill would eliminate funding for Firearm Injury and Mortality Prevention Research at both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which have been funded at a combined $25 million for the past five years.
In response to the Committee’s passage of this bill, the following statement was issued by the Gun Violence Prevention Research Roundtable steering committee: American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Emergency Physicians, American Public Health Association, Association of American Medical Colleges, Safe States Alliance.
“As a non-partisan group of national medical, public health, and research organizations dedicated to advancing the gun violence prevention research field, we are extremely disappointed to see the proposed elimination of funding for firearm injury and mortality prevention research at CDC and NIH. The bill that passed out of committee completely defunds Injury and Mortality Prevention Research at both agencies, which conduct much of this research, and the committee also passed an amendment preventing any CDC or NIH funding from going toward research into gun violence. If signed into law, this bill would undermine five consecutive years of bipartisan research funding that has helped develop an evidence-based approach to gun safety and injury prevention.
Firearms are the leading cause of death in children and youth in the United States and communities across the country are suffering from preventable firearm-related injuries and deaths. Suicide, violent crime, and accidental shootings cause trauma to families, communities, and especially the children affected by these preventable tragedies.
We need a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to reducing firearm-related suicides, violent crime, and accidental shootings. Rigorous prevention research that can accurately quantify and describe the roots of gun violence, inform strategies for responsible gun owners to avoid preventable injuries and deaths, and identify non-partisan opportunities for reducing the related morbidity and mortality is the foundation of such an approach.
Several ongoing CDC-funded projects provide insights on how to reduce suicide risk in U.S. Army soldiers and veterans, how to partner with families and adolescents in rural areas to promote firearm safety, how to improve efforts to reduce urban firearm injuries, and on the relationship between firearm access and opioid- related harm on firearm suicide risk, among other topics. Eliminating this funding would undermine current studies and future live-saving interventions, setting back our nation’s response to the public health issue of firearm-related violence.
As leading medical, public health, and research organizations working on behalf of clinicians, public health practitioners, and researchers, as well as the millions of Americans impacted by gun violence, we urge the House and Senate to pass a bipartisan appropriations bill that includes funding for the CDC and NIH to conduct public health research into firearm morbidity and mortality prevention, just as both chambers have done for the past five consecutive years. This year’s appropriations bill should be no different.”
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The American Public Health Association champions optimal, equitable health and well-being for all. With our broad-based member community and 150-year perspective, we influence federal policy to improve the public’s health. Learn more at www.apha.org.