AMA: Congress Must Lift Ban On Gun Violence Research
"With approximately 30,000 men, women and children dying each year at the barrel of a gun in elementary schools, movie theaters, workplaces, houses of worship and on live television, the United States faces a public health crisis of gun violence," AMA President Dr. Steven Stack said in a statement.
NBC News:
American Medical Association Votes To Lobby Congress Over Gun Research
Uncontrolled gun ownership is a serious threat to public health — and Congress needs to pay for research on the hot-button issue, the American Medical Association said Tuesday. Two days after 49 people were shot to death at an Orlando nightclub, the influential doctors' body voted to declare gun violence a public health issue and pledged to start lobbying Washington lawmakers. (Fox, 6/14)
Modern Healthcare:
AMA Asks For End To Ban On Gun Research Funding
Supporters of the proposal said applying a public health approach to gun violence requires ending a de facto ban implemented by Congress in 1996 that prevents the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from funding research on gun violence. (Johnson, 6/14)
The Hill:
Top Doctors Group Declares Gun Deaths A 'Public Health Crisis'
Other doctors groups, including the American College of Physicians and American College of Surgeons, have already declared gun violence a public health crisis. But the topic has been trickier for the AMA, which represents a far more diverse field including all 50 state medical associations. (Ferris, 6/14)
Dallas Morning News:
Calling Gun Violence A Public Health Crisis, AMA Promises To Lobby Congress On Issue
The AMA policy has been a topic of debate among member physicians for more than two years. But the governing board nearly unanimously adopted it during the group's annual meeting in Chicago, which started on Sunday, the day of the Orlando massacre. (Rice, 6/14)
CNN:
Gunshot Wounds Deadlier Than Ever As Guns Get Increasingly Powerful
The loss of so much life in the Orlando shootings is exceptional, but the kind of bullet wounds and the extreme nature of the physical trauma that people suffered in this incident is not as uncommon as it was even a decade ago, according to new study. And it is time for this "hidden public health issue" to come out of the shadows, the authors argue. (Christensen, 6/14)
Meanwhile, Democrats are considering attaching gun amendments to a long-stalled mental health bill that might just be getting some forward momentum —
CQ Healthbeat:
Gun-Related Amendments Possible At Mental Health Markup
The issue of gun control is expected to come up at a House committee markup this week on mental health legislation, with at least one Democrat considering introducing an amendment on the issue and others likely to come. (Williams, 6/14)
The Hill:
Dems Plan Gun Amendments On Mental Health Bill
Democratic lawmakers are planning to offer gun-related amendments to a major mental health bill being considered in committee days after the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, according to Democratic aides. (Sullivan, 6/14)
Morning Consult:
Murphy Thinks Mental Health Will Reach House Floor Before Summer Recess
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is poised to mark up a long-stalled mental health bill on Wednesday, which lead sponsor Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) thinks could be brought swiftly to the House floor. “I think it’s going to come, we just have to work towards a date,” he told reporters Tuesday after a press conference to rally support for the bill. “I don’t want this to languish over the summer. I don’t want anybody to have to face another tragedy, whether it’s just a single tragedy in their family or a mass tragedy, while Congress is waiting.” Both House Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy have expressed support for the bill, he said. Ryan pointed to the bill as a way to curb gun violence early on in his speakership. (McIntire, 6/14)
