In 2013, President Obama lifted the 17-year ban on federal funding for research into gun violence. But congress has not given funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for any gun-related studies. Oregon's senior senator is working with a coalition to get funding restored.
Oregon's U.S. Senator Ron Wyden spoke Thursday alongside other democratic senators and researchers who support federal funding for looking deeper into gun violence and how to stop it. Wyden says too many lives are being lost and it's time to know the facts.
Sen. Wyden: "With the facts, we'll be in a better position to help our communities, help our communities be safer when guns are present; to make guns themselves safer and to allow legal gun owners to improve their own safety."
Scientists who study gun violence say they don't have access to the same federal resources as their colleagues who study other public health issues such as cancer and heart disease.
Earlier this month, Wyden and 17 other senators called on appropriations committee leadership to hold a hearing on funding for gun violence research at the CDC.
