"NONE OF THE FUNDS MADE AVAILABLE FOR INJURY PREVENTION AND CONTROL AT THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC) MAY BE USED TO ADVOCATE OR PROMOTE GUN CONTROL."

The Dickey Amendment: About Me

In 1996, The Dickey Amendment was put into place, beginning a new era of silence about gun violence. The omnibus spending bill stated, "none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may be used to advocate or promote gun control." The bill was represented by the NRA, and the advocator and author, Jay Dickey, described the amendment as a way to stop the money flow towards gun control advocacy. This bill may very well be responsible for the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in America due to gun violence because we simply can’t understand the problem to its full extent.
Without identifying the real problem with certainty, how can we find justifiable solutions that can counteract the negative effect it has on society as a whole? Lack of funding for research caused by bias political corruption results in lack of understanding, which makes solutions harder to identify. This bill muffled the voice of all perspectives, and along with government inaction, the voices have been muted as the government are the only ones with the power and control to make change.

The Dickey Amendment: My Work

WHAT MORE DO WE NEED TO KNOW?

Isn't there already enough information?

Yes, there is still research and statistics about gun violence available, however, a plethora of information is still yet to be researched. For example, we know very little about nonfatal shootings, gun theft, gun training, gun storage, gun shop practices, or the effect guns have on college campuses, etc. This lack of research results in a lack of laws enforced by the government, which in turn has caused an approximated 600,000 people to be shot since the funding was cut off.

The Dickey Amendment: About Me