Dear Chairman Shelby, Vice Chairman Leahy, Chairman Blunt, and Ranking Member Murray:
As you consider appropriations for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, the undersigned 200 national, state,
and local medical, public health, and research organizations write to ask you to provide $50
million in funding shared evenly between the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct public health
research into firearm morbidity and mortality prevention.
We would like to thank Congress for providing $25 million for this public health research to the
CDC and NIH in FY 2020, and the House for including $50 million in the Labor-Health and
Human Services-Education appropriations bill (H.R. 2740). This initial investment was a crucial
step toward applying a public health approach to increasing gun safety and reducing firearm-related injuries and deaths, and continued and expanded investments are essential to the success
of this important work.
Firearm-related injuries are a public health crisis that led to 39,740 fatalities in 2018 and this
research is an important response to this epidemic. The foundation of a public health approach is
rigorous research that can accurately quantify and describe the facets of an issue and identify
opportunities for reducing its related morbidity and mortality. Federally funded public health
research has a proven track record of reducing public health-related deaths, whether from motor
vehicle crashes, smoking, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
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