This was originally published in the Daily Kos:
As a scientist, I’m beyond frustrated that there has been a ban on federal funding for gun violence research.
For over twenty years Congress has effectively stopped the nation’s preeminent health institutions from studying gun violence. By passing the Dickey Amendment in 1996, Congress handcuffed the evidence-based discussion we need to have on how to reduce gun violence’s tragic impact on our families, our communities, and our country.
Gun violence is a public health problem and our elected members of Congress should treat it as such. The NRA and its loyal politicians have made excuses, like claiming guns are not a disease, and should therefore not be studied by the National Institute of Health or the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The Dickey Amendment is not about prioritizing disease research over violent injury research, it is about suppressing inconvenient facts that undermine the “more guns for everyone, everywhere,” agenda. Policy-making often requires making decisions based on imperfect information, but this is the only issue on which our lawmakers have willfully insured that they do not have the information they need to make good policy.
Since the tragedy in Parkland, Congress has responded in typical fashion and done enough to skate by, but repealing the Dickey Amendment is useless if Congress refuses to fund the research. Imagine how ridiculous our health care policy would be if we still thought the cure to most ailments was putting leeches on a patient? Would we even be able to put communications and military satellites in orbit if we still thought the sun, stars, and planets revolved around the Earth? At one point each of these ideas were the conventional wisdom. Science and research are how we stop guessing about how the world works and learn the facts.
As a scientist, I’ve been blessed to work on a number of teams that have made great medical breakthroughs in combating cancer, treating spinal cord injuries, and managing devastating autoimmune disorders. Like all other scientists, I’ve also had my fair share of experimental flops. I can’t cling to a hypothesis — no matter how elegant, how intuitive, or how much it fits in with my worldview — if the data won’t back it up.
And it would be the height of foolishness not to test a hypothesis out of fear it might be proven wrong. But with respect to gun violence, the outcome of not doing the research and shutting our eyes and ears isn’t foolishness, it’s tragedy with families ripped to shreds and communities shattered. Gun rights absolutists are stifling research because they are afraid it won’t support their preferred solutions of banning violent video games, arming teachers, and blaming the mentally ill (while proposing to slash spending to treat mental illness). This is political and moral cowardice. It is also one of the many reasons I am running for Congress.
If I am fortunate enough to be elected to represent the people of California’s 48th Congressional District, I want to bring my decades of experience advocating for science-based public policy to Washington. I will fight to fully repeal the Dickey Amendment and give the CDC the funding it needs to unleash the power of America’s top researchers on gun violence. If you want to think about solving a problem, you arm yourself with the facts. You don’t hide from them. Maybe the rest of us need to pray that these politicians change their minds about the Dickey Amendment. In addition to praying, let’s vote for folks who aren’t afraid of the evidence.
Dr. Hans Keirstead is a Neuroscientist, stem-cell innovator, and the California Democratic Party’s endorsed candidate running against Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in California’s 48th Congressional District.