GUN VIOLENCE: Senator Murray Praises Breakthrough Funding for Gun Violence Prevention Research

Bipartisan spending bill includes $25 million for gun violence prevention research—the first such funding in more than two decades

Funding represents breakthrough in continued push for stronger response to gun violence

Move comes after Murray worked to include language in past funding deal affirming the Health Department has the authority to conduct research on the public health threat of gun violence 

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the leading Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS), released the following statement following the passage of a bipartisan funding bill, which included $25 million dollars in funding for gun violence prevention research.

“There is still far more we need to do to address the nationwide epidemic of gun violence, but this research funding is a meaningful, hard-fought victory for everyone who has demanded we finally treat gun violence like the public health crisis it is,” said Senator Murray. “I’m going to keep fighting to make sure this is only a first step, and that we don’t just learn more about the public health threat of gun violence, but that we also do more to address it and protect families across the country.”

The new funding for gun violence prevention research will be split evenly between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and represents the first time Congress has passed dedicated funding for gun violence research since the Dickey amendment was enacted in 1996. Senator Murray fought in a previous spending bill to include language affirming that the Health Department had the authority to conduct research on the public health threat of gun violence.

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