For 2 decades, firearms advocates in Congress have blocked taxpayer-funded research into the causes and consequences of gun violence, which kills more people in the United States than in any other developed nation. Last week, California's state legislature bucked that trend, voting to establish the nation's first publicly funded center for studying gun violence. The new California Firearm Violence Research Center will be run by the University of California system. Its lean budget—$1 million per year over the next 5 years—will likely preclude large-scale studies, but backers hope it will demonstrate the value of publicly funded gun research and perhaps help build support in Congress for a similar federal effort.
Author: Emily Underwood