Thursday, September 08, 2016

Once again California leads the way. This time on researching gun violence.

Courtesy of The Week:

Despite the fact that the United States has a very, very high rate of gun deaths compared to other developed countries, we actually know very little about the public-health threat posed by firearms. That's because Congress, working closely with the NRA, passed legislation in the 1990s barring the Centers for Disease control from spending money on any research that could be seen as pro-gun-control, and the CDC has interpreted this ban in a broad manner — the NRA's maneuvering has effectively choked off decades of would-be new research on an area of huge public importance. 

This has been a very big deal: There is a ton of stuff we don't know about the public-health impact of guns that we would know were it not for Congress and the NRA. But now, there's some welcome news out of California that will chip away at this knowledge deficit: The University of California, Davis, is launching the first-ever state-funded center on the study of gun violence. 

The center, notes a UC Davis press release, "will build on unique resources already in place at UC Davis for conducting transformative violence-prevention research and draw on the power of other UC campuses and beyond to provide the scientific evidence that informs the development of effective prevention policies and programs." It will be run by Dr. Garen Wintemute, an emergency physician and gun-violence expert who has spent $1 million of his own money on this sort of research, and who heads UC Davis' Violence Prevention and Research Program, or VPRP. California will be footing the bill — it has set aside $5 million to launch the center.

As with so many things, LGBT rights, moving towards renewable resources, innovative technologies, a lot of progressive policies and products seem to spring from California.

And here they are again starting a research project that will do what the government really should have been doing all along, and that is studying gun violence and its impact on the country and its citizens.

You would think that this would be the kind of research that the NRA and 2nd Amendment folks would rally around in order to get access to the best information available.

However I think we all know that will not happen because they already know that the findings will not support their bullshit about the importance of having more guns in the hands of more Americans.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:06 AM

    Que the cut to other funding and donations to UC Davis in 3...2...1...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous8:24 AM

    "One does not piss off a redhead and expect to live."

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:06 AM

    O/t, sort of, Well UC outsourcing IT. Hmm there goes our jobs to India. Hmm, now, who do I vote for?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous3:57 PM

    We owe it to our kids to learn what we can about this mental health issue, along with conflict resolution and effective communication.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous4:26 PM

    There has been some research and studies, but because they are not government sponsored (because no funds) they are dismissed as inconsequential or their validity questioned.

    As long as a study isn't paid for by the CDC or the government, I guess there is no legal reason it cannot be done. And U.C. Davis has found a way. Or at least they have made it a priority.

    In other news, the California state legislature passed a bill making tampons and diapers essentials and exempt from sales tax. Unfortunately it looks like the governor isn't going to sign it because right now he's not signing anything that reduces taxes. But it sure is a good start. Hopefully it will come around again.

    http://www.capradio.org/articles/2016/09/07/diaper,-tampon-sales-tax-exemption-bills-in-jeopardy/

    ReplyDelete

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