|
 The AMA, which lobbies on behalf of doctors, said on Tuesday it will
press Congress to overturn 20-year-old legislation that blocks the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from conducting research
on gun violence.
A 29-year-old gunman slaughtered 49 people at a gay nightclub in
Orlando, Florida, before dawn on Sunday.
The AMA adopted the policy at its annual meeting in Chicago. It
called U.S. gun violence a crisis that requires a comprehensive
response and solution.
"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," Dr. Steven
Stack, AMA president, said in a statement.
"Even as America faces a crisis unrivaled in any other developed
country, the Congress prohibits the CDC from conducting the very
research that would help us understand the problems associated with
gun violence and determine how to reduce the high rate of
firearm-related deaths and injuries."
Congress placed restrictions on CDC funding of gun research into the
federal budget in 1996 at the urging of gun rights supporters who
claimed the agency was biased toward gun control.
[to top of second column] |
AMA has several long-standing gun safety policies including support
of legislation that calls for a waiting period before the purchase
of any form of firearm in the United States. It also supports
background checks for all handgun buyers.
(Reporting by Susan Kelly in Chicago; Editing by Caroline Humer and
Matthew Lewis)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
