Researchers Express Concern Over Funding Cuts, Then Show Why Cuts Happened

President Donald Trump isn’t going to throw tax money at so-called gun violence researchers. That’s been pretty clear from early on in his second term, and that has a lot of people screaming to high heaven.

The reason, they argue, is that we need this research so we can counter the so-called gun violence. It’s a scourge, you see, and only they can tell us exactly what the problems are and how to fix them.

Now that the faucet has been turned off, though, one center decided to lament the funding cuts in a recent paper…

A recent paper from the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center (NJGVRC) claims that federal actions and defunding are threatening measures aimed at reducing firearm-related violence nationwide.

According to the paper, the national homicide rate fell by more than 16 percent in 2024. Daniel Semenza, associate professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice and the Department of Urban-Global Public Health at Rutgers—Camden and director of research at NJGVRC, said that one of the most significant factors behind this decline was that the homicide rate spiked during COVID-19, so it came down as life went back to normal.

…right before showing why such cuts were a good idea.

Semenza also attributes the drop to new state policies related to gun safety, changes in police practices and community health and violence prevention.

New Jersey is recognized for its strong firearm laws, which Semenza said contribute to the state’s low rates of shootings and homicides.

“We have a lot more protections that are trying to ensure safe storage and preventing children from getting access to guns. We have better laws to flag behaviors that might necessitate getting guns out of the home temporarily,” Semenza said. “We should all be proud to live in New Jersey when it comes to this issue because we are absolute leaders.”

Semenza said that Left-leaning states often have stronger gun control laws. Due to this, he and the NJGVRC are making bipartisan efforts to work with individuals and governments across the country to increase firearm safety in states that are protective of their right to bear arms.

Oh, wow. “Gun violence” researchers found that gun control was beneficial. Yeah, that never happens.

The thing is, we’ve talked about the massive problems in so-called gun violence research before. From self-censorship for findings that don’t align with the preferred narrative to cherry-picking of results and poorly constructed studies, the entire field is a joke. 

Even the left-leaning RAND acknowledges that the vast majority of research is terrible. 

Take the fall of the homicide rate and the claims that storage laws and the like resulted in that fall. That’s great, except that homicide rates fell nationwide, including in states that don’t have any such measures on the books and aren’t interested in seeing them.

In fact, the homicide rate has fallen continually since the Bruen decision, which we were told would result in an increase in murders. That didn’t pan out at all.

Look, most of these supposed researchers are just anti-Second Amendment activists with a Ph.D. That’s all they are, and they don’t really take particularly great pains to hide it.

Especially when there’s reason to believe that any research that doesn’t conform to the anti-gun narrative will be circular filed so it’ll never see the light of day, simply because it undermines the agenda.

That’s why I’m never going to be heartbroken about cutting federal funding for anti-gun research. It’s because it’s always anti-gun research and our tax dollars shouldn’t go toward bad science designed to meet a particular agenda, particularly one designed to undermine our constitutionally protected rights.

Semenza and his bunch can pound sand.

Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.

Help us continue to report the truth about the Schumer Shutdown. Use promo code POTUS47 to get 74% off your VIP membership.