Federally funded research from the perspective of public health has contributed to reductions in motor vehicle crashes, smoking, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The ACS believes this same approach should be applied to firearm related injuries and gun safety.

Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (H.R. 133), signed into law by President Trump on December 27, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health each received $12.5 million to study firearms research funding. The continued allocation marks only the second year that federal funding has been specifically designated to firearms research in more than 20 years.

This year, the College again joined more than 100 medical, public health and research organizations asking Congress to appropriate $50 million in funding for firearm morbidity and mortality prevention research. The College will continue its support for firearm injury prevention research as the federal funding appropriations process continues this year.

Read the ACS letters of support for the funding to the House and the Senate. For more information on trauma advocacy, contact Kristin McDonald, ACS Manager of Legislative and Political Affairs, at kmcdonald@facs.org.