The American Medical Association has labelled gun violence a “public health crisis” and called on congress to fund research into gun related crime.

In the wake of the Orlando massacre, the American Medical Association has labelled gun violence a “public health crisis” and called on Congress to fund research into gun related crime.

At the Association’s Annual Meeting this week, delegates passed a motion that called for “a comprehensive public health response and solution” to gun crime. Additionally, the AMA resolved to actively lobby Congress to overturn legislation that for 20 years has prohibited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from researching gun violence.

“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,” said AMA President Steven J. Stack, M.D..

The AMA has adopted strong positions on gun control and licensing since the late 1980s.

Republicans in Congress have expressed reservations about changing the existing policy on gun crime research. 

Orlando massacre signals a public health crisis – AMA
Xavier Symons
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Xavier Symons

Xavier Symons is a bioethicist and scholar in residence at the Kennedy Institute for Ethics at Georgetown University.

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