Here are five things to know:
1. The groups sent a letter requesting that Congress “end the dramatic chilling effects of the current rider language restricting gun violence research and to fund this critical work.”
2. The lack of gun violence research at the CDC is attributed to the Dickey amendment, a rider on a 1996 bill which prohibits the organization from using funds to advocate or promote gun control.
3. The amendment has been interpreted as a prohibition on almost all gun violence research at the organization.
4. The author of the amendment, former congressman Jay Dickey, has since called on the United States to reverse the law and start funding gun research.
5. The letter sent to the CDC was signed by 141 organizations who said they represented more than one million health professionals across the country, including the American Medical Association and American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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