Gun Control Crowd Frreaking Over Trump’s Grant Ban

We don’t generally write about politics because that’s not what we do. We talk about gun-related politics because that’s what you come here to read. As a result of that, we haven’t talked about President Donald Trump’s halt on federal grants and the like.

But we’re gonna now because the moratorium Trump laid down is starting to impact some anti-gun efforts.

Hilariously so.

It seems that some groups were using some of that money to fund “gun violence research,” which we all know is a fancy way of way of saying “trying to manufacture justification for gun control.”

And now, they can’t.

President Trump’s decision to freeze all federal grants and loans has sent shockwaves through countless communities, professions, and causes. This abrupt move followed the White House’s directive to the NIH and other federal agencies to suspend grant-related activities and restrict public communication.

For those of us working in gun violence prevention research, the consequences could be catastrophic.

This isn’t an isolated event. Just a year ago, Vice President J.D. Vance openly vilified academics at the National Conservatism Conference, calling them “the enemies.”

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For those of us in gun violence research, this federal hostility is tragically familiar.

Decades of limited funding under the Dickey Amendment starved our field in the 90s, as it prohibited the use of federal funds to advocate gun control. Yet even after its repeal, resources remain woefully inadequate.

In this challenging environment, New Jersey has been a rare beacon of hope. Gov. Phil Murphy’s establishment and ongoing support of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center (GVRC) at Rutgers have provided a lifeline for critical research that informs policy on suicide prevention, community violence, domestic violence, and other pressing issues.

Since taking the helm of the GVRC in 2020, we have witnessed firsthand how this state-led initiative has filled the gaps left by insufficient federal funding. Beyond our own research, we’ve empowered other scientists to advance this vital work, positioning New Jersey as a national leader in gun violence prevention.

So an anti-gun governor is continuing support for anti-gun efforts under the guise of pretending they’re conducting unbiased research.

Shocking.

However, let’s also be real here. New Jersey doesn’t have pockets as deep as Uncle Sam. While proponents of this kind of “research”–and yes, there’s a good reason I deride it like I do–may be willing to take what they can get, there’s no reason we should be on the hook for funding it.

The Dickey Amendment never actually said jack about gun-related research, for the record. It said tax dollars couldn’t be used to advance gun control. The fact that researchers took that to mean they couldn’t conduct their “research” says more about them than it does about them than it does about the Dickey Amendment.

Frankly, I’m not the least bit moved by their upset over Trump’s freeze of taxpayer money going hither and yon, especially if it’s curtailing anti-gun efforts masquerading as research. In fact, this is enough to make me hope for a more permanent freeze on this kind of utter nonsense.