What's the word for getting hurt, but doing nothing and hoping for a different result the next time (and the next time, and the next time, ad infinitum)? That last question, of course, assumes that people want to reduce gun violence in the country but I don't think that's true. Despite the significant gun violence in the country (top 5 killer of Americans under 65), the CDC has done virtually nothing to recommend policy changes or even to study the issue. Omaha has said on here he likens the situation to car deaths - we accept a certain number of driver fatalities so we can use our cars. There are a number of shortcomings in this analogy, but not the least of which is the CDC studies and recommends changes to vehicles and driver laws, but it is not able to do such a thing with guns. (As a side note, CDC research has led to policies that have reduced car deaths by 25%.)
Why?
Because when the CDC was researching gun topics, the gun lobby didn't like the findings so they cut the budget for the CDC to research gun violence in the country. Obama has requested money to conduct the research, but Congress has said no every time. Members of Congress have even stated that they will cut the entire budget for the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control if the CDC takes up the issue of gun violence.
This is impressively stupid. We have a glut of gun violence, and we won't even let our top research organization look at how to improve the situation. It's not like the tired response of "don't take my guns" is even relevant here as it's just looking at statistics and trying to answer questions - not doing any policy changes at all.
Maybe that's the word: stupid. It's sheer stupidity. There's a CNN article up right now discussing a little of this. http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/14/health/cdc-frieden-gun-research/index.html
Why?
Because when the CDC was researching gun topics, the gun lobby didn't like the findings so they cut the budget for the CDC to research gun violence in the country. Obama has requested money to conduct the research, but Congress has said no every time. Members of Congress have even stated that they will cut the entire budget for the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control if the CDC takes up the issue of gun violence.
This is impressively stupid. We have a glut of gun violence, and we won't even let our top research organization look at how to improve the situation. It's not like the tired response of "don't take my guns" is even relevant here as it's just looking at statistics and trying to answer questions - not doing any policy changes at all.
Maybe that's the word: stupid. It's sheer stupidity. There's a CNN article up right now discussing a little of this. http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/14/health/cdc-frieden-gun-research/index.html
