Could Republican Cuts End CDC Funding For Gun Research? Only If We’re Lucky

The Dickey Amendment didn’t actually say anything about gun research by the CDC. It simply said taxpayer money couldn’t be used to fund anti-gun advocacy. The CDC is the one who decided that meant gun research, which was pretty telling in my book.

And since then, we’ve seen ample reason to believe that yes, they saw this particular branch of “research” as an excuse for advocacy.

So-called gun research is an absolute trainwreck when it comes to scientific integrity, but now with budget cuts clear as day coming down from Washington, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is a little concerned.

When senators on Friday vote on a piece of legislation to keep the government open, they will also decide whether to give the Trump administration the authority to withhold funds from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control.

Experts interviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution say that funding for the CDC’s Injury Center — which aims to prevent gun violence, opioid abuse, violence against women and children, suicides and drownings — could be withheld, or impounded, by the Trump administration.

Rep. Lucy McBath said the CDC Injury Center plays a vital role in preventing gun violence and saving American lives. “As a survivor who lost my own son to senseless gun violence, I feel a deep responsibility to advocate for resources that protect others from feeling the same pain I have,” said McBath, whose son Jordan was shot to death in 2012 at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida. “Research funding to study the crisis of gun violence through the CDC Injury Center … is an investment in the safety and well-being of our communities.”

In the 2024 federal budget, the CDC’s Injury Center received $761 million, according to the legislative text.

The full $761 million will be available if the Senate passes a bill on Friday to keep the government open by extending last year’s budget for several more weeks or months. But the decision to spend that money will be entirely up to the Trump administration. Democrats are worried that the bill as written would allow the money to be impounded.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, ranking member of the House Committee on Appropriations, said: “Funding for CDC would be allocated under 13 broad public health categories, ranging from $210 million to $1.4 billion, instead of being allocated to more than 130 public health programs and activities, specified by Congress, which would shift control over public health priorities from Congress to the Administration.”

First, allow me to state for the record that I’m absolutely sick of hearing how Lucy McBath’s son was shot. We all know it by now and, frankly, I’m sick of her trying to leverage that into some kind of expertise. That’s especially true when you consider the circumstances of her son’s murder–and yes, he was, in fact, murdered. 

But that’s just my own quibble.

The truth of the matter is that considering the current state of so-called gun research, I’m perfectly fine with the Trump administration withholding funds on that. While research is, in fact, needed, the truth is that the entire community that’s involved in such research is nothing more than an anti-gun group pretending to seek answers while really just trying to justify their position.

They start with a conclusion and work backward, which isn’t how research is supposed to go.

Why are we funding that?

Honestly, the CDC had its chance, but what we’ve seen from them is the same kind of anti-gun advocacy dressed up as unbiased research that led to the Dickey Amendment in the first place. If they see their funding for such “research” cut, they only have themselves to blame.

And the rest of us can breathe a little easier knowing we’re not funding our own opposition yet again.