Dear representatives,
In 1996, the Congress approved the Dickey Amendment which states that no funds for preventing or controlling injuries at CDC (Centers for Disease Prevention and Control) can be utilized for other purposes such as advocating or promoting gun control (Change.org Inc., n.d.). Approval of this amendment led to re-allocation of 2.6 million that had been set aside for firearms research to the research of brain injury. The legislation was not an outright ban on research on firearms. However, it effectively halted majority of research on firearms since then until now.

Currently, gun violence causes approximately 91 deaths and 108 injuries daily in America. According to Bemidji (2017), gun violence causes an annual average of 15,000 deaths in America. A fundamental solution to preventing these senseless deaths is through carrying out scientific research on gun control. The reason for this is that research has been used to minimize deaths as a result of other injuries successively. For example, the federal government spends at least 200 million in research on both traffic and food safety (Bemidji, 2017). The outcome of these studies has led to the formation of legislation that has reduced the number of deaths significantly. Hence, it does not make sense for the Congress to be restricting research on gun control funded by the government. American civilians possess more than 300 million firearms which shows that legislation is required. The right laws can best be formulated through research.

There is need to repeal the Dickey amendment. The amendment of this legislation will give way for fund allocation to the CDC by the federal government. Availability of these funds will cater for well-designed research on gun control which will consequently lead to the formation of proper laws and regulations. Moreover, the research will determine whether controlling access to firearms will help mitigate the problem of mass murder.
Sincerely,